1001 Nights after Stephen
by zeppoJane
Summary: What if Stephen had died during Fredrick's attack on him during "Let the Right One In"... this is how Damon and Elena would spend the next 1001 nights.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: What if at the end of "Let the Right One In" Fredrick had succeeded in killing Stephan in the woods, and Damon hadn't been held up with the tomb vampires. How will Elena cope with loosing Stephen. What will Damon do to the tomb vampires now. **

Night One

Elena rushed Stephan through the woods and that terrible house as quickly as possible. The car was within in sight now but she refused to slow down for even a second. The slippery wet ground was already slowing them down besides. _Damon and Alaric should be with us by now… Why aren't they here? _

Finally reaching the car Elena practically threw Stephen inside and hurried around to the drivers side. She reached to turn the key but found her hand grasping air. Damon had the keys with him. "Stephen," she didn't know what to tell him but as she turned to talk to him he was jerked out the car window.

Fredrick slammed him into the ground and drove a splintered branch into his chest before she could even get out of the car and around to him. She tried to scream, beg for his life the way she had done for Damon when they were in Atlanta but the words didn't come quick enough. Stephen's face turned ashen pale and he lay lifeless. Elena didn't even have time to react or move when suddenly a dark figure plowed into Fredrick and knocked him into the car, shattering the windows and putting a huge dent in the door.

Damon was racing through the woods to get to Elena and Stephen. He ran as quickly as he could, seeming to flit through the trees, never stumbling or missing a step. Onward towards the car and Elena's screams. Then he saw it, Fredrick pulled his brother from the car and drove a stake through his heart. Fueled by desperation and rage he rammed into Fredrick as hard as he could, throwing him away from his brother.

Damon pounded a fist into his face three times before Fredrick managed to throw him off. Fredrick did a back flip and forced Damon into a tree, Damon's growl resounded through the rain. Suddenly another dark figure appeared directly behind Fredrick, Pearl. She drove a stake through Fredrick's back, killing him instantly. Damon pushed her aside and rushed over to where Elena now sat slumped beside his brother's body.

Pearl looked towards the house and she sighed. "I'm sorry Damon, I didn't know."

Damon growled at her to leave them . She helped him kill Fredrick her life would be spared, that was as much of a reprieve as he was willing to give. Pearl and Anna both rushed off towards the rest of their home.

Damon put his arms around Elena gently and held her as her tears finally started to flow. She cried and railed and screamed to the world. Letting all her pain flow out. _They had killed Stephen, he was gone. Gone. _She kept repeating the word over and over again in her head. Her body shook and rocked with the force of her grief but Damon still held her. She had no clue had long she had been like that when her phone started going off. Damon pulled it out her pocket and handed to Alaric. Neither was in a mood to talk to anyone right now.

Elena dimly heard Alaric answer her phone, he was talking to Jenna. Telling her that Elena was okay and was just getting some help on her history homework. He told her not to worry, everything was fine. Elena had to choke back an angry scream because everything was not fine. It would never be fine again.

Alaric had just gotten off the phone and was trying to tell them something. She felt Damon stiffen and then nod. Elena thought back to what Alaric had said, they had found Vicki's body. _So what? She's been dead for months. _Elena felt so bitter right now. But wait, no one knew that Vicki was dead. Jeremy had loved her and she was dead. Elena knew very much was he was feeling. She needed to be with him, she needed to hold him the way Damon had been holding her.

Elena pushed her way up and out of Damon's embrace, whipping the tears from her eyes. "I need to be with him, I need to get home to Jeremy."

Damon got up and handed his car keys to Alaric, "get her home." Alaric just nodded went to start the car.

Elena couldn't help looking at where she now sat, where Stephen had been just seconds before his death. Through the window he had been pulled from to where he now lay, cold and dead on the forest floor. She watched as Damon took the stake out and stared down at his brothers lifeless form. She watched them together until the car moved down the road to where she couldn't see them anymore.

Damon looked down at his hand, smeared with his younger brother's blood from when he pulled the stake out. All these years he had professed to hating Stephen he had never actually wanted his brother dead. In pain yes, but not dead. Never dead. They were supposed to spend an eternity together. But that was all gone now. Damon walked upstairs to his bathroom and tried to ignore his brother's empty room. He washed the blood off his hands methodically and tried not to think. He had buried Stephen next to their father, not knowing what else to do. Fredrick and the other's were left for Pearl to deal with.

He decided to check on Elena later tonight, and then get smashingly drunk. Yes, that would make everything better.

Elena came out of the shower to find Damon sitting at the end of her bed, head down, staring at something only he could see in her carpet. It was late, and she was physically and emotionally drained right now. She hadn't bothered to get dressed or dry her hair, so she wore only a rode. And yet she didn't mind Damon seeing her this way for once, she even felt oddly glad to have him there with her.

_He lost his brother too. _Elena walked over stood between Damon's knees until he finally looked up at her. The pain reflected in his blue-green eyes made her heart break all over again. Damon wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to him as he rested his head against her chest. There was nothing sexual about their embrace even though passer-bys might assume so. This was just for comfort, the comfort of knowing that someone else really could and did share your pain.

Eventually their mutual exhaustion set in and Elena pulled out of his embrace to turn down the covers, she stopped midway through. "You could stay Damon, if you like."

Damon looked her for a moment before finally nodding. They crawled in bed together and Elena rested her head upon his chest. They wrapped around each other and drifted off to sleep. Stephen was gone and all they had left was each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: What if at the end of "Let the Right One In" Fredrick had succeeded in killing Stephan in the woods, and Damon hadn't been held up with the tomb vampires. How will Elena cope with loosing Stephen. What will Damon do to the tomb vampires now. **

Night 2

Elena woke the next morning to find Damon gone but there was a text from him waiting for her on her phone. "Gone to get some dinner and change close be by later."

She was surprised that he would want to spend anytime with her at all considering what had happened last night. What Damon had said before they had gone to get Stephen back kept resounding through her mind. He couldn't protect and just like, in the blink of an eye they could be dead. She hadn't listened and now Stephen was dead. _And it's all my fault_, she thought as she curled into a ball and laid there in her bed.

Thankfully it was a Sunday so she didn't have to pretend everything was okay. She hated pretending she was fine when she wasn't, it had driven her nuts when her parents died. Because no amount of "I'm fines" or fake smiles could ever undo what had been done.

After showering quickly and getting dressed Damon downed three bags of blood as quickly as possible. He didn't want to leave Elena alone for very long. She was his only friend in the world, he couldn't loose her too. And it wasn't just that he was worried about how she was taking the loss of Stephen. He needed her too. Damon closed his eyes and remembered how her arms had been wrapped around him throughout the night, her warmth absorbed into his skin. It gave him a peace he had never had before, not even with Katherine.

Picking up his leather coat he rushed out the door and jumped in his car. He needed to get it fixed before anyone noticed the giant dent in the door or the broken window. Damon sighed and opted for dragging Elena out for another road trip with him, he could get his car fixed in Richmond. And perhaps the time away would be good for both of them.

Damon pulled up in front of Elena's house in no time and made sure Jenna wasn't home before he let himself in. He made his way up to her room and nodded as he passed Jeremy's door. Damon stopped just outside Elena's door and listened for a moment. The only thing he could hear was her slow, quiet breathing; it was too quick for her to be sleeping though. Finally he pushed the door open and joined her.

Elena lay in ball on her bed and barely glanced at him when he walked in. Her eyes were still puffy and red from last night but otherwise she looked intact. Damon shut her door behind him and walked over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. He started to rub her back in light strokes, trying to comfort her.

She rolled over and stared up at him. "I'm glad you came back," her voice sounded so small it made his chest ache.

Damon picked her up and placed her cradled in his lap, she nestled her head against his shoulder. They sat like that for a while before Damon remembered that he needed to get his car fixed. "I was gonna go get my car fixed in Richmond. I'd love it if you came with me Elena." He waited and watched her face to see what her response would be.

She sat there thinking for a moment before she nodded, "yah, okay. Just…let me get dressed first." Elena crawled out of his lap and started pulling clothes out of her closet.

"I'll wait for you downstairs," he left her to change on her own.

Fifteen minutes later Elena came downstairs to find Damon flipping through channels on the TV downstairs. She hoped she looked passable for going out in public. Damon looked up at her and turned the TV off. They walked to his car in companionable silence. Elena stopped short when she looked up and noticed all the damage that had been done. It would be easily fixed though, Stephen wouldn't be though.

Elena got in the car and turned on the radio, trying to keep her mind off the loss she and Damon were both aching from. He drove on in silence, but looked over at her every once in awhile, noticing how she kept stroking her fingers along the window seal. "Are you okay, Elena?"

Her head bobbed up for a second and she stopped the motion of her hand, "no. You?"

Damon just nodded in agreement, "not one bit."

They spent of the rest of the drive in companionable silence. They were getting good at this, being quiet together. They had just pulled into the car garage when Elena's cell phone started ringing. It was Jenna and as little as Elena wanted to have to talk to her, she knew it wouldn't be fair to make her Aunt worry. "Hey Aunt Jenna," she answered.

She listened as her aunt asked where she was and if she was okay. "Yah Jenna, I'm just taking a little road trip out of town with Damon for the day, but I'll be home by curfew tonight."

Then Jenna asked her the worst question possible, "oh is Stephen going with you then?"

Damon looked over from where he was talking to the mechanic, and Elena visibly swallowed the lump in her throat. "No Elena, he's not." _He won't ever be with me again_.

She could practically hear her aunt's brow furrowing with worry, "alright, I'll see you when you get home Elena." Thankfully she was gonna let it slide for now.

After making sure the mechanic would do the car right away and fix it properly Damon suggested they take a walk together and find something for her to eat. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and wasn't even aware of it until now. Food wasn't important though, not after what had happened last night.

They found a small burger shack for her to eat at and ordered two burgers and fries. Damon even insisted they get two chocolate milkshakes to drink. They sat in companionable silence once more as they ate. When they finished they got up and headed back the garage. The mechanic finished it within the hour and they headed back to Mystic Falls again. It was late afternoon and Elena was feeling exhausted so she leaned her head on Damon's shoulder knowing he could move her quick enough if he needed to.

Damon wrapped his arm around her lithe form and watched her fall asleep in his arms again. It was just after eight that night when he pulled up in front of her house. Elena slowly stretched up and out of his arms, "Stephen," she purred, before her memory of the last twenty four hours returned. She looked like someone had hit her and it put a knot in the back of Damon's throat. He hugged her to him briefly before she pulled away and got out of the car. He followed suit to make sure she would be okay.

When they reached her front door she stopped and turned to him, "you should stay here again tonight."

Damon looked her over for a moment before answering her, "okay."

"Meet me in my room in fifteen minutes?"

Damon just nodded and got into his car to park it elsewhere. After all they wouldn't want Jenna to notice that he was spending the night, no matter how innocent their motives were. He parked his car seven blocks away and hurried back to Elena's room. He knew he would be there long before she would but that was besides the point. Damon needed to get back to her. She was the only thing that made the whole in Damon's chest feel just a little bit better. Damon kicked off his shoes and threw his jacket on her window seat just as she came through the door.

Elena slipped into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair before she returned to find Damon already laying with his shirt off in her bed. He was idly playing with her teddy bear while he waited for her to return. She gave him a half smile at seeing this, it was just too cute. Damon looked up and gave her a slight smile back. She crawled under the covers with Damon and laid face to face with him on the bed. The teddy bear resting between them.

They lay there together for awhile before either one decided to talk. Elena finally broke the silence, "what am I gonna do Damon? What could I possibly say tomorrow? What do I say when everyone ask me where he is?" Her voice broke and she was crying again as he pulled her across the bed and into his arms.

"I don't know Elena, I just don't know. I suppose you could tell them that he left to live with some relatives out of town if you wanted to." He hated telling her to lie, "you should at least talk to Bonnie about it though."

Elena shook her head frantically, "Bonnie's so angry with me… with all of us for what happened to her Gram's. She's not even talking to me," she cried even harder now.

Damon ran his fingers through her hair gently and shushed her softly.

After awhile her tears slowed down and she sniffled a bit, "what about his body Damon? I don't want people to find him the way they did with Vicki."

"That's not likely to happen," he ran his hand up and down her spine. "I buried him next to our father after you left last night."

"He would have liked that I think," she sighed and stared deeply into Damon's eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and gave up on thinking about Stephen for the rest of the night. Tomorrow she would get up and go to school, she would lie to her friends again, and go back to pretending everything was okay. Damon was the only one she would allow to see the real her, he had more than earned that right. And no matter how selfish she knew she would do anything to keep Damon with her for the rest of her life.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Due to a very helpful note from one of my readers I feel the need to comply and change my spelling of "Stephen" to Stefan. No big I know but when people change their spellings of certain things part way through it drives me nuts so I just thought I'd mention the change. And thanks to everyone for the great reviews. **

Night 6

Everyday sucked but every night was just a little bit better because Damon was always there with her. He was always there with his arms wrapped around her as they slept and always gone from her side as she woke. It made the pain in her chest subside whenever Damon was near. The whole week was spent with people bothering her, asking her where Stefan was, and when he would be back. Then Caroline heard her rumored lie that Stefan had moved away and had started cajoling her and kept hugging her. It made Elena really want to hit her for it. It wasn't Caroline's fault that Stefan was gone though and she had found Vicki herself so she was a bit shook up herself.

Tomorrow was the Founders Day kick-off party, basically everyone in town got together for a big semi-formal party. Boring music would be played, people would dress up, and inevitably a ton of cheap champagne would passed around. Elena had to go, she was part of the founding families.

Elena finished combing out her hair as she crawled into bed next to Damon. "So tomorrow's the Founders kick-off party, I have to go to it."

Damon wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her to his chest. "Yah me to. The whole council's going to be there putting on a good face."

Elena lay in his arms and idly swirled her indexed finger in tiny, gently patterns over the smooth flesh of his chest. "Did you maybe want to go together?"

Elena stared up at Damon with great big doe eyes as she asked him to go to the Founders Day party with her. Her finger made tiny swirls over his flesh and it sent tingles through his entire body. He couldn't be feeling these things right now, _stop it Damon_, he raged at his lower half. He laid his hand flat over hers stopping her movements. It felt incredible to have her warm hand pressed into his skin, right where his heart lay. The twinge of guilt over not protecting Stefan made his gut clench and churn.

"Maybe we shouldn't be seen together Elena." He watched the pain flicker through her eyes, and he felt a need to soften the blow of his rejection. "People are already talking, they think he joined Zack in California it would be unwise to change that opinion now."

She nodded accepting his answer, "And we wouldn't want them to think that Stefan left because I was cheating on him with you right. I just thought it would be nice to have someone who knew what I was going through with me."

Damon ran his fingers through her silken brown hair combing it out of her face and looking deep into her eyes, "Elena, listen to me, I will always be here for you. No matter what."

Tears were starting to form at the corners of her eyes, "I just hate being around all those people. Having to lie all the time… I just wish someone knew so they'd stop asking, 'Elena's where's Stefan?' or 'How's Stefan?' or 'Why'd you guys break up?' It just drives me insane having to lie and fake everything." She was full on sobbing and practically screaming at this point.

Damon carefully listened about the house but Jeremy was in his room with his headphones on and Jenna remained downstairs in Alaric's arms watching TV. Damon wrapped his arms around Elena and held her in a hug, the way his mother used to do when he'd scrape his knee and cry as a boy. He held her like that until her sobs stopped and she just hiccupped against him gently. Finally Elena drifted to sleep with her head on his shoulder and he slowly lowered her onto the bed. Damon carefully covered her up and tucked her teddy bear into her arms. He spent the rest of the night watching her rest, but his own sleep would not come that night.

Elena awoke and stretched in her bed for a second before cuddling with her teddy bear again. It smelled like Damon, she sighed, all of her bedding smelled like Damon now. _Thank God it's the weekend again_, she thought. Damon was gone as usual, so she lobbed downstairs and was going to head into the kitchen to join Jenna for some breakfast. There was knock on her front door and for one heart thudding moment she thought maybe Damon had changed his mind about going to the party with her.

She opened the door with a slight smile on her face. It was her Uncle John Gilbert. She couldn't stand the man, there was just something wrong with him. Elena could feel it down to her bones. His face was pinched in a stubby and near permanent scowl. Elena and Jenna both disliked him greatly.

"Uncle John," she greeted desolate.

Aunt Jenna met them at the door and stopped short when she saw who it was, "oh, its you." She too was disappointed by John's arrival. Elena spent the rest of the day either ignoring or avoiding him.

Damon got called into a Founders Council meeting early that morning. He walked in with his usual smirking smile on face masking who he really was. Sheriff Forbes was filling everyone in on how Vicki had been a vampire and someone had staked her. _I know that would be me and Stefan_, the memory brought another sting of regret over both their fates. Then Mayor Lockwood announced the return of John Gilbert. _Wait, what? _Damon sidled up to the sheriff and asked her if he was related to Elena.

"Yah he's her uncle. I just think of him as an asshole though." It was bad when the sheriff reduced to calling someone an asshole. John then went into a lengthy speech about how he thought there were still more vampires in the town. _No shit_, Damon pursed his lips.

Elena got dressed for the party and drove Jeremy. She had taken Jeremy for a walk earlier and finally told him that she was adopted. They had shared a special brother and sister bond right there in that moment despite the pain they were both suffering from. "Elena, if she really overdosed why would she be buried?" Jeremy asked her.

"I don't know Jer but you really should just drop it. Sheriff Forbes is working on it I'm sure."

He looked flabbergasted, "are you kidding me Elena? I'm not gonna give up. Vicki was murdered and buried out there and someone knows something about it!"

Elena practically screamed at her brother, "just drop it Jeremy!"

"Do you know something Elena?" all she wanted to do was scream yes but instead she kept her mouth shut and eventually he let it go. He spent the rest of the car ride staring at her but neither one spoke for the rest of the drive.

The party was miserable. Damon didn't want to be there at all. He sipped a scotch and watched the crowds slip by. He stopped to say hello and compliment the sheriff on her dressy attire. Elena's little brother Jeremy had interrupted his conversation with the sheriff to ask about whether or not they had found anything on Vicki yet. It made Damon cringe and fight to roll his eyes at the younger man.

Elena was here he knew but he dodged her every chance he got. He couldn't keep doing this, seeing her and feeling for her. It wasn't right, or fair to anyone. Stefan had only been gone for a week for Christ sake. Finally he stopped at the bar to grab a refill on his drink and he turned to see Elena dancing, drunkenly in fact.

_Damn it Elena_, he was so pissed at her right now, _what on earth was she doing? _She was making an absolute spectacle of herself. She bumped into some grouchy older guy and then laughed apologizing to him. He practical sneered at her telling her to get off the dance floor. No one was that rude to Elena, NO ONE. Damon nearly charged over as he pulled the man away from Elena and forced him to apologize. He focused in on the man's eyes and compelled him into being very, very sorry before dragging Elena off the floor and into one of the back room parlors.

"What are you thinking Elena?" he demanded once he was sure they were alone.

She shook her head at him before answering, "I don't want to be here."

Damon searched her eyes trying to figure out what she meant. Then she cleared it up for him voluntarily, "I don't want to be at this party, trying to pretend that everything's okay. I hate it Stefan, I hate everyone here." Except for you, went unsaid between them.

Damon hugged Elena to him for as long as he could. "Go get cleaned up and make sure Jeremy's got a ride home and we'll leave okay."

Elena nodded at his suggestion and headed back to the main party to find Jenna and Jeremy. She had never been so grateful towards Damon as she was in that moment. She found her aunt with Alaric Saltzman and she tried to appear as sober as possible. "Hey Aunt Jenna, Mr. Saltzman." They both smiled welcomingly at her, "I'm gonna take off I just wanted to make sure Jeremy was gonna get a ride home."

"He already left about half an hour ago," Jenna told her with a smile.

"Oh.. Okay, I'll see you at home then," Elena turned to go but Alaric stopped her for a moment.

"Can I talk to you real quick before you go Elena?" Alaric led her away from most of the crowd. "I just thought you should see this," he pulled out what looked like a book report of some time. "It's a copy of a paper Jeremy wrote," his eyes bore into hers. The paper was entitled 'The Vampires of Mystic Falls'. "It was clear he didn't believe in any of this but I thought you and Damon should see it anyway." He handed her the paper and said goodnight.

Damon stood on the balcony waiting for Elena to finish saying goodnight to everyone. John Gilbert walked up to him and started prattling on about the tomb and vampires. Damon played along, but then John actually managed to surprise him by pointing out that Damon already knew about the tomb being opened since he was the one who opened it. He smiled at John and pointed out that he could rip the man's throat out in a heartbeat. John invited him to go ahead and do that, Damon feigned walking away before rushing over and snapping the man's neck and tossing him off the balcony. _I hope he and Elena weren't close. _

Damon moved to join her and they started to work their way through the crowd together. They got into the car together and drove off, Damon noticed that Elena was flipping through a couple of pages that Alaric had handed to her. "What's that?"

"It's the history report Jeremy wrote about the vampires of Mystic Falls. I just don't get why he would write any of this." Damon looked at her seriously, "Damon, he couldn't be remembering what happened to Vicki could he."

Damon pursed his lips, "no."

They were driving down a long dirt road now and Elena looked around them questioningly. "Where are we going Damon?"

He breathed slowly and sighed before deciding to let Elena in, "my house."

She nearly jumped as she sat forward and looked at him incredulously. "What?"

He waved his hand elaborating, "I have a small cabin out here on the other side of the quarry. Its my private…space I guess." He watched Elena's eyes soften and her whole body relax.

Elena sat quietly for the rest of the drive until they pulled up in front of a small cabin. It was nothing like what Elena had come to expect out of Damon. Usually he was all glitz and refinery, but this place was down to earth and simple. Elena wondered then if the glitz was as much of a mask as the cocky arrogant smirk was. She stumbled on the soft earthen terrain as she tried to get out of the car and instantly Damon was there catching her.

"You okay Elena?"

She smiled at him, "yah just drunk." They both chuckled about this before the memory of why they felt they had no right to be happy caught up with them and they stopped.

Damon moved away from Elena and opened the door up for them. She followed him inside and marveled over how elegant and simple everything was. The kitchen cabinets were made of solid oak, the table and chairs too. He had a plaid couch set in front of a fire place and a rocking chair offset next to it. There were two doors leading off to what she was assumed was the bathroom and bedroom. It really was nice in here.

Elena turned to watch Damon as he built them a fire, "I never even knew this place existed Damon. How long have you had it?"

He looked up from what he was doing, "Since about 1866 actually."

Elena laughed as she cuddled down onto the couch. Damon joined her once the fire was burning warm and bright. She studied a small bookshelf next to the rocking chair, it was filled with old and tattered books, she assumed were Damon's favorites. There were also a few small figurines littering the top of it. Elena got up and investigated them further. There were a handful of the most beautiful sea shells she had every seen, a locket with a picture that looked very much like Damon, and a small wooden carved duck. Elena looked back at Damon questioningly.

"They're just mementos from my youth. The picture in the locket is my mother, Eloise. You would have liked her," Damon laughed softly. "She believed in fairies and would insist upon Stefan and I helping her catch them in the garden when we were children. Our father hated it." Damon stopped for a moment clearly immersed in some painful memory.

Elena felt the need to pull him out of it, "and the others?"

"I made a trip out to the coast my first night as a vampire and found the shells. And uh, I carved the duck while watching my post during the war."

Elena came back and sat down next to him, he never shared things like this about himself. Not even Stefan had actually. "When you fought in the Civil War?"

Damon leaned his head against Elena's shoulder, "yep. And put simply its not something I like talking about Elena."

She nodded and ran her fingers through his hair, "I get that Damon."

They sat like that for a few more moments with Elena's fingers still pushing through Damon's raven locks. Damon eventually pushed Elena gently into the couch and curled into her lap, his body draping over her own. Elena kept caressing his gently curling hair until his soft snores lulled her into a sleep of her own.


	4. Chapter 4

Night 8

Damon had fallen asleep nestled into Elena's arms on his couch after they had left the Founders Day kick-off party together. He lay with one leg nestled between her own and could feel her heat soaking into his thigh from the apex of her thighs. His head lay tucked between her breast, he could smell the sweet scent of her skin combined with the blood flooding in and out of her heart. Damon enjoyed the peaceful lull of comfort her body offered him. He felt her phone vibrate inside her coat pocket, and maneuvered in out for her. He flip it open before it woke Elena up. Jenna had texted asking where she was, Damon smiled and texted back for her, 'Staying a friends.' Damon slipped it back into her pocket.

Elena shifted and moaned softly as his hand lingered over her soft stomach through her clothes. Damon sighed, being this close to Elena always brought out his humanity. _Damn her_, he thought. But he knew he wasn't serious at all. Damon liked that he could show who he really was to Elena and Elena alone. There was nothing better than being to relax and just let the last century and a half melt away in her arms. Damon dimly wondered if this was what Stefan had felt with her before pushing all thoughts of his brother away and just watching Elena sleep.

_Stefan moved over Elena's olive flesh. Her stomach stretched out in front beneath him, her back arched into his chest. Elena moaned as she felt Stefan slide in and out of her warm, taut flesh. His hands caressed her all over as he whispered how much he loved her in her ear over and over again. Elena cried out as her climax built up and washed through her, she reached down and cupped his face in his hands before capturing his lips in a kiss. _

Damon lay watching her as she began to sigh and moan softly in her sleep. He angled his face up to watch her and was utterly amazed when her lips caught his own and stroked a soft kiss out him. He sighed into her mouth as her lips caressed his own gently working them apart as she kissed him. Damon couldn't resist sliding his tongue just inside the seems of her lips and tasting her sweet mouth. He groaned at the taste of her, it was pure heaven to finally have Elena kissing him.

"Stefan," she sighed as she moved to break the kiss and drift back to a sound sleep.

_Stefan, of course she would be thinking of him. Wanting to kiss him. Why on earth would she want to kiss a murdering, sociopath like him_. Damon rested back into her arms and waited for the sun to rise.

Elena woke to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking, she stretched and shifted surprised to find herself laying tucked deeply into an unknown bed. Sunlight streamed in through a slit in the curtains. She stretched upwards as she remembered that she was Damon's house. She crawled out of bed and found Damon cooking them breakfast in his kitchen.

He had changed into a long sleeved blue shirt and black jeans, his hair fell in gentle wet curls making pieces of his nearly black hair appear to have mahogany highlights in them.

She had the most delicious dream last night and it had put her in a fabulous mood. She noticed her jacket had been thrown over the back of the couch and she dug in her pockets for her phone. Elena looked confused when she didn't find it.

"Your aunt texted you last night so I texted back that you were spending the night with a friend. Your cells on the table, Elena." Damon turned around and laid down two plates piled in food.

Elena checked to make sure she hadn't missed any other calls or texts before joining Damon for breakfast. "Thanks Damon," they ate in companionable silence for awhile before she noticed how pale and drawn Damon looked. "Are you okay?"

Damon looked up at her for a moment, "yah, I just need to feed soon."

Elena moved over to him and brushed his hair out of his eyes gently, "Damon… would you like to…"

Damon gently pushed Elena back from him. "Nah, I got plenty back at the boarding house Elena."

Damon got in the car with Elena and started to drive her home. Elena noticed that he was headed to her house instead of to the boarding house. "Wait, Damon where are you going? I thought you needed to go back to the boarding house to get some blood." She watched as the muscle in Damon's jaw twitched.

Damon kept glancing at her for a moment before he responded. "Are you sure you're ready Elena? Its not the same as before."

She tried to figure out exactly what he meant by that. Was it just because Stefan was gone? Or something else? "What do you mean Damon?"

He didn't answer and instead he pulled down the long drive leading to the Salvatore boarding house. Elena slowly got out of the car and instantly felt that what Damon had said about her not being ready just might be the truth. She slowly walked up the front walk just behind Damon. They crossed the main foyer and she followed him down the basement steps to his large freezer where he kept his blood supply just out of general view. Elena watched as Damon drank two bags of blood before her need to see Stefan's room overcame her fear.

She slowly walked up the stairs by herself, dreading how very empty Stefan's room would be with all of his stuff and no him. But when she reached the door she could barely stand to turn the knob and go in. Damon walked up behind her and stopped just an inch behind her. He reached around her and opened the door for her.

Boxes, the room was filled with boxes. Damon had been packing Stefan's things away. She was instantly furious. "How could you do this Damon? Pack away his things like this?" Elena rushed past Damon into the room.

"It needed to be done Elena," he waited for her to understand. She didn't though instead she looked at him again with those judgey eyes of hers.

"Why Damon? Why do we have to get rid of his things!" Tears stung her eyes and Damon wished he could just kiss her again. Except she would never willing and knowingly kiss him.

Damon instead walked over and pulled her once more into his embrace, he didn't let go even when she fought against him and cried and scream and pounded on his chest trying to get away. Damon held on and wouldn't release her until he was sure that she had calmed down enough to listen to reason. "I'm not getting rid of anything Elena just packing it away. Leaving the room like some monumental tomb to him would be wrong sweetheart."

"I don't want to let him go Damon," she sobbed.

"Me either Elena," he answered her. "But Stefan wouldn't want us to try to hold onto him like this either."

Elena cried and leaned into Damon's chest and wrapped her arms around his muscular body. Her makeup was streaked and body ached with exhaustion from the last week. Damon picked her up and carried her into his private bathroom. He sat her down on the edge of his bathtub and ran her a hot bath. Damon pulled her coat off her shoulders and then began to leave her to her bath.

"Stay with me Damon," she asked as her hand slipped into his own. She pulled his shirt over his head and began to unbutton his jeans for him.

He stilled her hand, "Elena… I can't…"

"Just for comfort Damon. Comfort we both need," he nodded and allowed her to finish undressing him.

Damon moved to gently caress her arms and shoulders before unzipping the back of her dress, and sliding it off of her. He watched as her fingers slipped just beneath the hem of his boxers before pulling them down and off of him. Elena turned around and reached behind her to unclip her bra. Damon grabbed the edges of her thin black panties and pulled them off of her before helping her into the large hot bath. He joined her as soon as she was settled within. Elena laid back against his chest, gently resting in his lap. He rubbed his fingertips up and down her arms and relaxed more than he had since the tomb had been opened. He couldn't resist leaning forward and brushing a light kiss along her forehead.

They stayed together enjoying their bath together, soaking up the warmth the water and their friendship offered them. Elena didn't want to change back into her dress from the day before so Damon gave her a pair of his black pajama pants and one of his button down shirts. She looked beautiful in his clothes. Then again Damon always thought she looked beautiful.

Damon threw Elena's dress in the wash for her and then rejoined her upstairs. She was laying on Stefan's bed. "Thank you Damon," she whispered as he joined her on the bed.

"For what Miss Elena?" he sighed.

She smiled at him, "everything."

Damon knew she would be going home soon and he felt the need to warn her, "I killed your Uncle last night."

She stiffened and then turned in his arms with a puzzled look on her face. "Why?"

"He knew about me and Stefan. I couldn't risk him telling the rest of the council so I… snapped his neck and threw him off the balcony during the party."

"Hmm… lets hope he didn't write anything incriminating against you then."

Damon laughed at this, all night and all morning he had expected Elena to be thoroughly pissed at him for killing a member of her family. She didn't seem all that concerned with it though. Perhaps if it had been Jeremy or her Aunt Jenna it would be much different now between them. Instead they were relaxed and comfortable with the idea that her Uncle John Gilbert was a corpse.

Damon dropped Elena off at home once her dress was clean but he allowed her to keep the clothes she had borrowed from him anyways, claiming they looked much better on her. He was slowly getting back to his regular old flirtatious self. Elena was immensely relieved to see it too.

She walked through the door and nearly jumped out of skin. Her supposedly dead Uncle John was sitting in the kitchen talking to Jeremy right now. She walked in and pretended that everything was okay and he should be there. Jeremy automatically walked out the room without even glancing at Elena. He was still pissed at her because of the thing with Vicki.

"Hey Uncle John," she greeted trying to hide the question in her voice.

"Good day Elena." He said, before going back to drinking his coffee. Then Elena saw it, a ring just like the one Alaric had. The one that brought Alaric back to life after Damon had killed him.

She walked away from him without saying another word. John called after her that he would like to talk to her soon. Elena dodged around his request and fled quickly to her room.

'Johns not dead! Get over here.' She texted Damon the second she was alone in her room with her door blocked shut. Elena turned to open her window only to find Damon already there. "Thank God, you're here," she gasped.

"You call, I come. I'm easy like that." He joked but Elena knew it was only there to hide his discomfort over the news that John was alive.

"He has a ring just like Ric's Damon," she pointed out.

Damon thought over what she had said, "he knows Isobel."


	5. Chapter 5

Night 18

Alaric and Elena were joining Damon at the boarding house to discuss just what they might wanna do about John Gilbert. Elena and Damon had to decided to call for take out and make a dinner of the whole affair. All three of them sat around the coffee table in the den, eating and bantering over how John could possibly have known Isobel. Finally Damon got sick of it and rolled his eyes at the two humans with him, "John knew Isobel, we got that from the ring. And Isobel is Elena's mother… who gave birth in the offices' of the esteemed Dr. Grayson Gilbert… John's brother." He stared at the two waiting for them to catch up with his inane logic.

Elena caught on first, just as Damon had suspected she would, "oh, God. Please don't tell me you actually think that John's my father Damon." She looked like she was ready to vomit and Damon honestly couldn't blame her.

"More than that," Alaric put in, "he might know where to find her now."

"And if he knows where Isobel is… its likely they'll both know where Katherine is," Elena finished.

Damon looked very thoughtful but couldn't help but notice the worried and pained expression that was etched into Elena's beautiful face. Did she honestly think he still wanted to find Katherine?

They finished dinner soon after and Alaric took off, figuring the two of them would want to sink back into their solitude together. It hadn't missed his notice that they spent practically every moment together or that they had both discarded any semblance of a social life in the process. Personally he was just glad that Elena's Aunt Jenna hadn't noticed it yet.

Elena was pulling on her jacket getting ready to head home. She needed to finish her trig homework before class tomorrow.

"Elena, before you go… there's something I wanted you to have." Damon walked out an unknown side door, Elena followed him and noticed that they were apparently in the garage. There was what appeared to be a car laying underneath a dusty old tarp in the middle of the room. Damon walked over and pulled the tarp off revealing the most beautiful red sports car she had ever seen. "It was Stefan's but…" Damon coughed to avoid saying the obvious, "anyway, I think he'd like for you to have it. I signed the title over to you already but you're gonna have to pay me a dollar to avoid a gift tax on it. All the paperwork is in the glove box." Damon fished around in his pocket before pulling out the keys for her.

Elena couldn't believe it, it was just so much to take in. She practically jumped into Damon's arms as she pulled him into a hug. He hugged back and ran his fingers through her hair. She didn't think she'd ever get enough of that. He was always doing it anyway, every time he touched her his fingers would always manage to get caught up combing through her silken locks. "Thanks Damon," she whispered as she moved out of his embrace finally. "I'll see you at home later," she affirmed. He nodded and she happily jumped into her new car.

As she drove home she couldn't help but notice that every eye in Mystic Falls was on her and her new car. It was strange because lately she hated whenever someone would want to look at or talk to her, but right now she was just happy. Rather she was happy until she pulled up in front of her house and saw her Uncle John standing there watching her. Looking at him made her remember that he could in fact be her father, and once again she felt the bile coming up in the back of her throat.

"Nice car. Where'd you get it?" he asked.

"I bought from Damon Salvatore," she noticed the way he pursed his scrunched up face even further before she went in search of Jenna and Jeremy so she could show off her new car. Jenna was ecstatic about it but told her not to wreck it like the last one. Jeremy however was still pissed at her over Vicki and wouldn't even look at her.

The next morning Damon was annoyed all to hell as he was forced into a meeting with Sheriff Forbes and John Gilbert. Clearly John hadn't told the sheriff or anyone else on the council that he was a vampire, but Damon still didn't like the man.

"There was a compromise at the local blood bank last night," the sheriff informed him.

Damon played coyly stupid for a moment before letting mock surprise show, "oh, you mean it was… robbed."

She looked up at him with absolute exhaustion on her face, "the night guard doesn't remember anything but the inventory list were changed."

John turned around from where he was idly messing with some statue or other, "which means, there are more vampires in Mystic Falls." Then he said the most annoying thing Damon had ever heard, "I know, Damon and I can work together to find out who it is and bring them to justice Sheriff."

Sheriff Forbes looked to Damon, "well I do have a lot on my plate and any help would be appreciated."

"No problem Sheriff, I just wanna make the town safe and help anyway I can," he solemnly replied.

"I think we'd make a great team," John sneered.

Damon looked at him with utter annoyance, "anything I can do to make this town safe, even if it means I have to spend time with you." They both smiled at each with mock politeness.

Elena sat down in history class and began pulling out her books. Alaric was telling the class how he would be teaching local history that week when Bonnie walked in and took her seat next to Elena. She was finally back, Bonnie had left for a little time off and away when her Grams died. Elena couldn't help but notice the furrowed brow her friend gave her over Stefan's seat on the other side of her being empty. Elena still hadn't brought herself to telling Bonnie about Stefan's death, she had called about the tomb vampires being out though.

After class she rushed to talk to Bonnie who seemed to just be ignoring her anyway. "Hey Bonnie wait up," finally they stopped to talk. "Are you okay? You haven't said ten words to me since you got back."

"It's just with everything that's happened, I just… I don't know Elena. It's like when you told me that the tomb vampires were out," she shrugged. "It's like Grams died for nothing, and the horrible thing is if you weren't with Stefan, then she wouldn't have done those things and she'd still be here."

Elena felt a knot growing in her throat, "you blame me for this Bonnie?"

Bonnie pursed her lips, "it is your fault though. My Grams would still be here if not for you."

The taller brunette was moving from hurt to anger very quickly, she was practically on the verge of hitting her once best friend. Caroline saved the shorter girl though when she bounced up interrupting them. She started chattering away about getting a dress for Founders Court.

"Wait what?" Elena asked.

Caroline just looked at her like she was crazy, "the Founders Court… you know Miss Mystic Falls.. We signed up for it like forever ago."

It finally dawned on her what Caroline meant, "I totally forgot. That was so long ago."

"Oh are you dropping out?"

"I can't," this had meant so much to her mom, there was no way she could miss it.

Damon was sitting at home having a nice glass of A- when heard the doorbell, "damn it," he muttered to himself as he went to answer it. Anna stood there waiting for him, "look who learned to ring the doorbell." He was still supremely pissed over Stefan's death but he moved aside to let her in anyway.

"I'm here on behalf of my mother," she told him.

"On behalf of or in spite of?" he growled at her.

Anna followed him into the study, "I'm sorry about what the other tomb vampires did to Stefan,"

Damon began to pour himself a stiff drink, "you were playing house with half a tomb of really pissed off vampires, what did you think was going to happen?"

"My mom is devastated. They tried to over throw her."

He looked carefully at the young girl in front of him, "why isn't she here telling me this?"

Anna turned away, "she doesn't really do apologies."

"Well I don't really do forgiveness so I guess that works. Besides if you and your mother really wanna stay here so bad, try not robbing the local blood bank dry!"

She scoffed at him, "I haven't been to the local blood bank in over a week Damon."

"Then the other vampires having been doing it for you."

"There are no other vampires," she told him. "My mom kicked them out after what happened with Stefan. Its just my mom, Harper, and me now."

_What the hell? What happened to the blood then? _Damon didn't know but he'd find out soon enough.

Elena pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge to drink as she hit the speed dial for Damon's phone. He answered almost immediately, "hello, Miss Elena," he purred.

"Hey Damon, I have a favor to ask," she took a drink before filling him in on the Miss Mystic Falls competition.

"Yah, I remember they had that back in 1864 too."

She sat down at the island counter in her kitchen, "yah well this meant a lot to my mom. She was so into me doing it… its just I need an escort…."

She could swear she heard Damon smiling on the other end, "are you asking me out?"

Elena burst out laughing, "not exactly. But I am asking you to wear a tux, dance with me and flaunt me about for the whole town to see…" She nearly choked as she realized what she had said, or more the way she had said it. _Bad Elena, don't flirt with Damon! _Luckily he didn't seem to notice it as he agreed to be her escort for the evening.

Elena paced back and forth on the balcony, waiting for her introduction. This wasn't right, she couldn't just show off everything she was to be judged for the entire town. Her life was too messed up for that now. The thoughts of a million reasons why she should just run away kept flowing through her head in a steady stream of doubt. The simple fact that it was what her mother wanted wasn't enough. She was on the verge of turning tail and running when her name was called.

She started down the long twisted stairwell not knowing what else to do and then she saw Damon standing there, waiting for her. He was poised and collected, her rock, doing this for her. Because she had asked him to. The cool blue color of his eyes staring back at her forced away all the doubt, all the anxiety and suddenly she knew it was okay. She wasn't trying to flaunt the person she had been a year ago when her mother signed her up for this. She was just being herself, because with Damon there was never any other way to be.

The second her hand rested in his and he lead her outside she was simply a lady running for the title she deserved. They bowed and circled each other as they moved as one to the music being played for them. Their hands were close enough that they could feel an electric charge from one another and their eyes flirted, just as they had done a few months ago when they had been in Atlanta together. Elena smiled at him and was more than pleased when he smiled back.

They moved into the waltz together and Elena was utterly amazed at the way their bodies flowed together as they danced. She couldn't think of a better partner. Not even Stefan could have or would have danced with her like this. Elena was utterly at peace, as she always was when she was with Damon. When the dance ended and they were forced to move apart she instantly missed the sensation of being in his arms. A somewhat hurt and confused look crossed her face as she wondered why she felt what she did with Damon.

Anna and Jeremy stood together talking and catching up. They hadn't spoken since their fight over why Jeremy wanted Anna to turn him. Neither noticed Bonnie lurking near by listening into their conversation though.

"So you read Elena's journal?" Anna questioned.

"Yah but she stopped writing all together like a month ago. Her last entry just said 'he's gone' all weepy like over Stefan dumping her and now she's here with Damon. No wonder."

Anna stared astonished at him for a moment, "Stefan didn't dump her Jeremy, the other tomb vampires that got out when my mother did killed him."

He looked utterly stunned for a moment, "Stefan's dead. Like dead-dead?"

"Yah, I thought you knew," Anna told him.

Bonnie rushed off unseen to consult Elena over Stefan's death. She had been so pissed when she saw her here tonight with Damon. And now a wave of guilt rushed through her over their last few conversations.

They had just announced Caroline's victory as Miss Mystic Falls when Bonnie pulled Elena outside with her. Before Elena could utter a word to her sand-box sister she was jerked into an affectionate hug. "I'm so sorry Elena, I didn't know."

"Know what?" Elena quirked her brow.

"About Stefan, I heard Anna talking to Jeremy about it."

All of the color drained promptly from Elena's face and she felt as if the world was falling out from under her. Bonnie knew, no one could know. Alaric kept his mouth shut about it, about everything. This was her pain, hers' and Damon's. Not Bonnie's, not Jeremy's, and certainly not Anna's. She felt like she was going to vomit as she pushed her friend away and stumbled back into the thrall.

Damon immediately noticed Elena reentering the party and even more so that she seemed so utterly shaken up. He rushed to her side and tried to hide her from as many spectators as possible, "Elena, honey what's wrong?"

It broke Damon's heart to see the tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. Elena seemed to be compulsively swallowing something repeatedly before she finally answered him. "They know. Bonnie… and Jeremy… They know about Stefan…"


	6. Chapter 6

Night 20

Bonnie followed Elena in and found her with Damon, "Elena, honey its okay just.. Lets go somewhere and talk, just the two of us."

Elena shook her head against Damon's chest, "I don't want to talk to you. If I talk to you then its real, then Stefan's really gone and this is all real."

It felt like someone was holding Damon's heart in an ice cold grip and squeezing it as tightly as could be. He shook his head at the little witch to just let it go and led Elena to his car. Damon took Elena home immediately after being told that both Jeremy, Elena's brother, and her best friend, Bonnie now knew of Stefan's demise. He took off his shirt and shoes as he listened and waited for her to finish showering. Damon couldn't seem to stop running his fingers through her hair repeatedly. Elena was upset. It bothered him more than it should have. He paced anxiously for awhile until thinking and arguing with himself. He wanted to tear something to pieces, to snarl, to runaway. But more than anything he just wanted Elena to be okay. He stopped and rolled his neck around trying to stretch out some of his tension.

"Aren't you pants going to get wrinkled?" Elena queried from behind him. He had been so distracted that he hadn't even heard her turn the water off. Her hair lay in wet piles around her shoulders, her makeup was washed away, and she wore a long t-shirt with a pair of boy shorts. It reminded him of the night his brother had died, when they had begun their ritual of always sharing a bed. "You can remove them you know… as long as you're not going commando tonight." Elena gave him a half way teasing smile.

Damon pulled his pants off and laid them in a pile with the rest of his suit. When he turned around she was already getting settled into bed and holding the covers up for him to slide in next to her as usual. He turned off the lamp next to him as he joined her and they listened as her aunt and brother went to bed as well before they started talking about the days events.

"I'm glad Caroline won, at least now I can be done with the whole silly thing and not have to worry about it anymore."

Damon ran his fingertips lightly over her shoulder and upper arm repeatedly. "Elena, we've got to talk about this."

She sighed and rolled to face the other direction, but instead of moving away from Damon she scooted back and further into his embrace. He tucked his arms around her and felt her sigh against his chest. "I know…." She lay quietly for so long that Damon was beginning to wonder if she had fallen asleep already. "Its just… I didn't want them to know."

"Why?" he whispered softly into her ear.

She turned her head back to look at him, "because if they know, then its real… If anyone knows then the pain we share isn't just ours it's the worlds. Its real and terrible… and they have no right to try to feel it or pity us for it. If people other than us know, then Stefan's not only gone for us, he's gone to the world and that means he'll never come back again."

Damon squeezed her tighter as she cried and sobbed in his arms for what felt like the millionth time. He was so sick of seeing her sad, today when they danced she had been happy. Truly happy, just in that moment, with him and no one else. Elena had been getting better, he knew she had and he couldn't help but hate the witch in that moment for bringing back the pain in Elena's eyes. Eventually she quieted and fell asleep in his arms, he watched her until the sun rose and her family began to stir around them then he slipped out as he always did.

Night 27

Damon danced about his room in a towel. He had just gotten out of the shower and was in the process of getting dressed. Jenna was spending the night with Alaric tonight, finally. So Elena was coming over here to stay with him, she couldn't stand to be around John Gilbert unless she had to. Damon was unexpectedly excited to spend the time alone with Elena. It had been a week since Bonnie had revealed her knowledge of Stefan's death. Finally Elena was beginning to accept that he really was gone, and it wasn't just some bad dream they shared. She was getting back to herself again, starting to smile more often. Damon was happy to see it, he had been waiting for her to move on for weeks.

She had coffee with Bonnie and talked over the whole mess a couple of days ago and she was coping much better now that she was able to talk about it openly with someone other than him.

He was just through throwing on his pants when Elena wondered into his bedroom.

"Hey Damon," she greeted him and tossed her overnight bag onto his king sized bed.

"Hey sugar pop," he smiled at her. "So you ready for tonight?"

Elena had started unpacking and turned towards him, "tonight?"

Damon pulled his shirt on and started buttoning it, "yah, I'm making roast beef for diner and we, little miss, are watching my all time favorite movie."

She quirked her brow at him, "oh really?" Elena sauntered over to him and stood an inch away from him as she looked deeply into his eyes. "And what movie would that be?" she half way flirted.

Damon smiled down at her and couldn't help letting his eyes trace over her partly opened mouth, remembering how she had kissed him in his sleep. "That would be Innocent Blood."

"Innocent Blood? The one with Rambo?" she laughed.

He rolled his eyes, "no that would be the hilarious vampire mobster movie."

"There's a vampire mobster movie?"

"Yes," he whispered to her. Then he turned and started downstairs ahead of her, she followed him though just as he knew she would.

Elena was right at his heels as they entered the house's extensive kitchen together, "I didn't even know you owned a TV Damon."

He looked at her like she was crazy, "as if. I love football, how am I supposed to watch the super bowl much less any other game without a TV Elena?"

She laughed at him. The sound was rich and decadent, and just for him. It made him happier than he had been in a long time.

Damon led Elena downstairs into the media room he had set up in the basement after they ate dinner. She happily plopped down on the couch next to him as he flicked on the 52" flat screen and started the movie. Damon automatically put his arm around her shoulder and held her close as they watched the movie. When the end credits rolled he looked over to see if there was something else she wanted to do but she was already asleep. He gently lifted her and carried her upstairs before he began to undress her for bed. Damon took off her shoes and socks, then followed with her jeans before tucking her into his bed. He shook his head at how adorable her hair looked as it was spread out in every which way around her.

Damon joined her after stripping down and changing into a pair of black cotton pajama pants himself. He spooned against and wrapped an arm around her waist holding her close before falling asleep himself.

Elena was more than half asleep, dreaming a delicious dream of some sort when her fingers began to snake their way into her panties. She cooed softly in her sleep as they caught and rubbed against her moistening nether lips. A soft sigh peeled from her lips when they touched her clit and began to roll it in circles.

Damon was awoken by the soft sighing moans being emitted from the warm body next to his. He came fully awake when he remembered that Elena had spent the night. He lifted his head off the pillow to see what was wrong with her. She was asleep, dead asleep; he finally caught on to what was making her moan when the scent of her arousal hit him. It was the most delicious thing ever, better than the scent of blood had been the first time he had fed.

Her hands were gently, deftly wiggling under the covers and it elicited another moan from her lips. Damon rolled slightly so as to mask at least part of his growing erection but that didn't help as Elena just rolled back against him further. He groaned, the body had needs plain and simple. And neither of their needs had been met in a very long time. Damon closed his eyes and hoped the temptation would pass but she only sighed and wiggled more. Shaking his head he decided that at least here, in her sleep, he could give her what she needed.

He allowed his fingertips to ghost lightly against the moist skin of her inner thigh, all the while watching her face. Damon rubbed his thumb back and forth on the outside of her panties, pressing into her clit. He couldn't help his growing and throbbing erection as she moaned for him. Her hands slid away as his fingers hooked into the edge of her panties and began to slid against her outer lips.

Damon caught his breath as he watched her lips part, her face and body slackened in pleasure. He rubbed his thumb in circles over her clit, barely ghosting a touch over her as he slid a finger into her slick inner folds. His eyes closed as he allowed the feel of her against him to wash through him. She was so slick, so hot, and when he thrust two fingers inside her he was amazed at just how tight she was too. He slowly fucked her with his fingers and enjoyed watching her thrust and buck against him in her sleep. Damon's fingers were getting thickly coated in Elena's juices as he quickened his pace. She moaned more and more as she bucked harder. Suddenly her inner walls clenched over him as she slammed back into her hard and an orgasm took her. Damon watched her closely as he rolled his fingers over her clit and outer lips gently, she was still asleep though. He sighed, happy she had enjoyed herself, even if she was asleep for it.

Elena woke up just as the sky outside was beginning to lighten in the predawn hours. For some reason she felt incredibly satisfied and happy, better than she had since before her parents had died. She watched Damon's face as he slept, he looked peaceful and happy too. Elena smiled at him and shifted before she realized that something was off. He was touching her, his fingers were inside her panties and he was touching her. Elena bit off a moan of delight as she shifted and felt him brush more intimately against her wet core. She careful removed his hand though and tried to ignore the pang of lost she felt.

_No wonder, he's so hard this morning. _Elena was getting pretty used to Damon's erect member though. She remembered how hard he had been during their bath together a few weeks ago. Elena was honestly surprised at how well he had been behaving lately, even now she knew hadn't taken advantage of her. Still she watched him sleep and wondered why he stayed with her like this, why he hadn't asked more of her.

He woke slowly just after sunrise, "good morning," he sighed.

She smiled at him and moved to kiss him lightly on the lower lip, barely a ghost of a kiss before getting up and throwing on her pants. Damon lay in bed and watched as she walked out of the room. _What the….?_


	7. Chapter 7

Night 28

Elena was sitting cross legged on her bed watching Damon remove his shirt and fold it neatly onto her window seat. "I'm not tired yet tonight, can we just stay up and talk for a while?"

He sat down across from her on the bed, "sure. So Miss Elena, _what_ would you like to talk about?"

She thought for a moment knowing that the subject she wished to discuss was likely to make Damon very uncomfortable, but she had been wanting to ask ever since she had first talked to him at the first Founders' Day dinner several months ago. She rolled her shoulders back and decided that if he didn't want to talk about it he would change the subject, otherwise she should just go for it. "Damon… tell me about the night you became a vampire."

He looked utterly shocked and then slightly annoyed for a moment, "and here I had hoped you tell me some naughty story about when you had a threesome with Bonnie and Caroline." He gave her his patented bad boy smirk at this.

Elena just rolled her eyes and smacked at his arm. "Seriously, I wanna know."

Damon groaned before flopping back on the bed, he looked her in the eyes and began his solemn tale. "You know I'm gonna have to mention Stefan a lot here right?" She nodded and still looked expectedly at him so he continued on. "As you know it was 1864 and the entire town was going mad trying to find all the vampires here in Mystic Falls. Stefan had betrayed Katherine to our father and the goody-goody town's people were rounding up her along with any other vampire they found. Stefan and I watched as they loaded her up in a barred carriage, think of it as police car back then. They had put a muzzle loaded with vervain on her mouth and tied her arms with ropes soaked in the nasty stuff."

Elena watched him closely as his eyes misted over with the memories of that night. "Stefan decided that I should go and set her free while he distracted them for us. All but one man left and I easily knocked him, I was rifling through his pockets looking for the keys to release them when Stefan rejoined me. Together we managed to pull Katherine out but she was still tied and gagged. We rushed to free her, knowing we didn't have much time." He paused in his story to look directly at Elena for a moment and she reached down to brush a stray lock of his hair out of his eyes. Damon smiled softly at her and then continued, "we were untying her and then I was shot. It was a gut shot and killed me almost instantly."

Elena leaned over him, staring into his saddened blue eyes. "Did it hurt?" she whispered.

"It burned and felt heavy on my chest for a moment, but in truth it was over so quickly and I was in such a shock that the pain hardly registered before I died."

Her hand brushed along the side of his face in a gentle caress, "what happened next?"

"Our father shot and killed Stefan too. When I awoke I ran as quickly as I could to the church, only to find it burning. I thought I had lost Katherine forever so I returned to the quarry where Emily and her brother had taken Stefan's body. Emily gave me my ring and I sat watching the water, waiting to die."

A course of shock ran through Elena's body at this, "you were going to die?"

He smiled almost wistfully at this, "when you first wake up you are still in transition, it isn't until you feed that you are truly a vampire. It you don't feed… you die. Without Katherine I saw no point in going on. When Stefan awoke he agreed with me, but unlike me he insisted on saying goodbye to our Father." Damon sighed, "I waited for him for hours, waiting to die, finally he came back telling me of his fight with Father. He killed and fed from him, he was a vampire and insisted that I should feed too. He even brought me my first meal, she was our maid's eldest daughter, I can't remember her name though. Anyway Stefan forced me to feed, and because he had forced me to spend an eternity in misery without Katherine I had vowed to bring him nothing but misery during it."

Elena lay next to him on the bed and watched the emotions flicker across his handsome profile. "You wish you had spent the time together differently?"

Damon looked at her, "no. No. I just wish it hadn't ended so soon," he chuckled at this. He rolled onto his side to look at her, "you know the funny part Elena? Katherine had to compel Stefan to drink her blood to become a vampire, and I did so willingly." Elena looked very solemnly at him and interlocked their fingers. They sat like that until Damon finally drifted off to sleep, Elena watched him sleep amazed at how utterly peaceful he looked. She finally closed her eyes and drifted off her self a few hours lately, all night their fingers lay entangled.

The next day Damon was at home lounging about while Elena was at school when John knocked on his door. "Hey partner," the annoying human quipped.

Damon rolled his eyes as John entered his home, thinking, not for the first time that he wished humans had to be invited in too. "What do you want John?"

"To find the vampires," he smiled his smug little smile that made everyone want to hit him.

Damon laughed, a dark and sultry sound, "if you wanted to find vampires you wouldn't be here with me John."

John looked at him, finally letting the smile on his face slide away. "Believe it or not Damon I do want to find the vampires. And you're going to help me with that or everyone is going to know your little secret."

Damon glared at the man for a moment, "what do you want John?"

"There was an invention stolen from Jonathan Gilbert it was thought to have been lost in fire when the vampires were burned. Clearly the vampire who stole it didn't die. It was a woman named Pearl. You're going to help me find her, and also as a prize for you I'm going to help you find Katherine."

A low growled rumbled from inside Damon's chest, "the only reason I would want to find that bitch is so I could kill her. Now John you don't really think flaunting that in front of my face is going to keep me away from your sweet little girl do you?" He stared the shorter man down searching his eyes, "now get out."

Night 29

"Do you know what the device he wanted is?" Elena asked Damon as she worked on her history homework. They were sprawled out together on the couch facing the fireplace. Tonight they had deemed to stay at the boarding house and steer clear of John as much as possible.

Damon lifted her legs so that they lay in his lap and began to remove her boots and rub the tension out of her feet. "I don't know what it is," he smiled at her then, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "However I do know that Pearl doesn't have it… anymore."

Elena sat up, "what do you mean anymore?"

He leaned closer as if to share some terrible secret, "because I already took it from her the first night she was freed from the tomb."

Elena laughed. "But you don't know what it is?"

"Nope. But I do know that if John wants it there's no way I'm going to let him get it."

They sat in companionable silence as Elena finished her homework. Even though it was Friday she didn't want to have to spend anymore time over the weekend working on something so mundane. Damon was staring into the fire as she got up to put her books in her backpack. She needed some time to relax and unwind. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a bath."

Damon turned towards her and gave her a sultry smile, "you want me to join you?"

She laughed and ran up the stairs to his ensuite bathroom.

"Hey you didn't answer me!" he called after her.

Elena smiled as she stripped down and sank down into the steamy water of the tub. She wondered if he would take her lack of an answer as a yes, and then she wondered why she didn't mind the idea.

Damon considered joining her as he went upstairs but he pulled short when he saw Stefan's closed door. Elena wasn't ready, and she didn't really want him anyway. He kept going and got dressed for bed. Damon crawled into bed and lay listening to Elena slosh the water about in the tub before drifting off peacefully.

Elena came out of the bathroom dressed in one of Damon's button down shirts and a pair of shorts. She smiled when she saw him laying there asleep in the bed. She quietly crossed the room and turned off the bedside lamp before crawling into bed with him. She lay stretched over his chest, he wrapped an arm around her waist holding her close throughout the night.

The next morning Elena was packing up her overnight back in the living room getting ready to run home for a little while. "Are you coming back her tonight?" Damon asked as he poured himself a drink.

"Yes, is that gonna be a problem?" Elena teased him.

He turned back with a very serious look on his face, "oh yes, you are a complete nuisance." For one heart thundering moment she thought he was serious before she realized that he was only teasing her.

Finally she rolled her eyes at him and headed out the door, "I'll be back later."

Damon had just let Elena out when his phone began to ring, he answered his phone and it was Alaric Saltzman. "Hello?"

"I think I have a lead on Isobel," Alaric told him.

"Oh really?" Damon drawled.

"Yes I had a friend of mine do a geo-track run a track on the phone number Elena called to reach Isobel the first time. John called the same number three times before the number was disconnected and then began calling another number repeatedly. The number was traced to an apartment in Grove Hill."

Damon paused in mid-step, "Isobel's in Grove Hill?" He really didn't like the idea of her being so close to Elena.

"So it would seem," the teacher answered. "I was going to drive out there and check it out, I thought you might want to come with me."

Damon sighed, "fine. Pick me up in an hour."

Elena was grabbing a pair of jeans out of her closet when John came in. "Uncle John, I didn't see you there," she responded reluctantly.

"I thought we could talk, we haven't had a chance to catch up." He walked into her room making her feel intensely uncomfortable.

She moved towards the door, "I'm actually just heading out so…"

"It won't take long," he stopped her.

She grudgingly turned back to him, "what did you want to talk about?"

"I know you know."

"Know what?" _That you're my father? That you tried to hurt Damon! What you ass? _She wanted to scream all these things at him.

"Its really silly to keep denying it," was his smug response. "What do you think your mother would say if she knew you were dating a vampire?"

Finally Elena snapped at him, "which mother?" Then Elena stormed out of the house and rushed back to the boarding house as quickly as possible.

Damon watched as Elena sulkily flopped down onto the couch with a frustrated groan. "I know he's an ass Elena, put simply most Father's are."

She glared at him, before remembering who she was talking to and softening her expression. "He isn't my Father, my Father was a great man, he helped people. Uncle John is a poisonous leper of a man."

Damon couldn't agree with her more as he sat down next to her, "I know. Just look don't let the little prick bother you okay…" He pushed a stray lock of hair away from her eyes and she finally smiled at him.

"You know, I think he thinks we're dating or something," she teased.

"I know," he waggled his eye brows and did that sexy flirting thing with his eyes, which only made Elena laugh. "Anyway are you gonna be okay here alone? I have to go run an errand with the teacher."

"The teacher? You mean Alaric? Are you two friends now?" Jealousy swept through her, she hadn't realized they were to a point of being social.

"Right."

He turned as he slipped his coat on, "you should a… stay down here, not wonder around too much. Okay?"

"I will be fine, I'll probably just watch TV and then go to bed." She paused for a moment, "unless you want me to wait up for you?"

"That's entirely up to you Elena." With that Damon headed out to where Alaric was just pulling up in the drive. _Prompt little teacher_, Damon thought.

Damon spent close to four very boring hours running his errand. Finally he was home, he listened for Elena and found that he could hear her heart beating the tell-tale song of sleep in the study. Tonight he had thought that perhaps he would find Isobel but they had come up with just a small time lackey vampire of John's. The whole affair was annoying. Poor Alaric had done some soul searching when they had finished killing the boy. His name had been Henry, he was one of the vampires from the tomb. But they couldn't just leave him there.

Elena lay on the floor amongst a pile of books sleeping soundly. Damon leaned over her and traced her cheek as he had so many months ago in her room, when he had first met her. She was reading his father's journal he noticed; he lifted the book to see what she had read. It was a section about his pride in Damon joining the war, fighting for the Confederacy. Damon rolled his eyes, the two of them had never truly gotten along. Damon was too much like his mother for that.

Elena rolled over and noticed him leaning over her, she gave him a slight smile. "You're home."

He smiled down at her before picking her up and starting up the stairs with her. She nuzzled in next to his neck, and he nearly groaned as he felt a shock race through his body. "Come on, cupcake, its our bedtime."

"Mmm…. I love you," she murmured as he carried her through the upstairs hallway.

Damon nearly dropped her at hearing this, he looked down at her but she was clearly half asleep. "What?"

She just pushed closer into his embrace, "I love you so much Stefan…"

The all the air left Damon's lungs when he heard this, it was like finding that Katherine wasn't in the tomb all over again, only worse. _I can't keep doing this_, he thought. And with that he opened Stefan's door and dumped Elena on his brother's bed.


	8. Chapter 8

Night 29

Elena awoke to cold and alone in a bed, she stretched out looking for Damon in the dark, expecting to find him next to her as always. She panicked as her search came up empty and bolted upright in the bed. Elena examined the room around her, Stefan's room, she was in Stefan's bed. But why? She got out of the bed and went down the hall to Damon's room, but he wasn't there either.

Then she heard the water in the shower running. Elena knocked quietly on the door before entering anyway, Damon was there. She could see his taut ass and back through the shower door. "Damon?" she called to him. He turned around and practically glared at her, "can't a guy take a shower in peace?"

Elena nearly jumped as the hostility in his voice. "S-Sorry, Damon. I just woke up. Why was I in Stefan's bed?"

Damon turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, he immediately noticed how her eyes scanned his entire body before returning to his face. _That's right, let her look at what she will never have_, he growled in his mind. "Because its where you belong," he bit out.

Elena was getting tired of his hostility, "look Damon I don't know what happened when you went out with Alaric but you do not get to take it out on me."

He smiled cruelly at her, she had seen this smile months ago just after Vickie had been staked and he told her she should leave him be. "Oh but it _is_ your fault Elena, because no matter what I've done for you, you just won't let it be enough. You are just like Katherine."

Elena wasn't sure what he was talking about but one thing was clear, he wanted her out of here. That was fine, she would leave. Without saying another word Elena turned on heel and walked out on him. It broke her heart to have to walk away from Damon now; for the last month he had taken care of her, made her smile when no one else could. He had become her world, and he was sick of taking care of her. Her pain broke into anger as she jumped into her car and slammed its door shut. She raced home, like she had done the night she had realized that she looked like Katherine. Only this time she didn't crash, this time Damon was not coming to save her. When she pulled into the drive she took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes and calm down. She let herself in quietly and went directly to her room. It was close to four in the morning and everyone else was asleep.

Elena shut her door and collapsed onto to her bed sobbing. Damon couldn't stand to be with her anymore, he wouldn't take care of her. She had been selfish to expect him to, she really was just like Katherine. Elena took a deep breath and then she smelled it, _him_, all around her. Damon's scent was so seeped into her bedding that even know she could smell him all around her. With a frustrated cry she ripped the sheets off her bed and threw them along with the rest of her bedding onto the floor. It didn't help though, even her mattress smelled like him, and fresh tears began to spill out her eyes.

Damon had followed her home and stood outside her window watching as she threw all her bedding on the floor. It smelled like them, he knew because he had done the same just a few hours ago. There it was though, the proof that Elena really couldn't stand to be around him. He wasn't Stefan and he felt like a fool for trying to pretend otherwise.

Across town Anna was coming home from Jeremy's glowing with happiness over the progress of their own relationship. She walked through the door to find her mother staked and dead, Harper too lay a few feet away. This was John Gilbert's work. She immediately hit the ground and let the sobs choke out of her.

Alaric though was sitting at the Mystic Grill sipping a scotch, thinking of his trip to Grove Hill with Damon. He was ready to give up on that bitch Isobel, finally.

"Hello Ric," he turned and there she was, like in some dream, or nightmare.

"Isobel," he greeted with a no little amount of disbelief.

She sat down and started in with the small talk, "you look good. Its good to see you. I hear that you're a high school history teacher. How is that?"

Alaric couldn't believe it. "Where have you been Isobel?"

She shook her head and smiled, "I don't have any reasons that are gonna comfort you. I wanted this," she turned to him, "I needed this. You were supposed to mourn me and move on."

The teacher could feel the tears burning at the back of his throat, "how could I not search for you? You were my wife? I love you."

"Because I wasn't lost Ric." She picked up a napkin off the bar and pulled out a pen, writing something down on it. "I understand you know my daughter, Elena, and I hear that she's been looking for me so…" she pushed the napkin over to him. "So I want you to arrange a meeting for us."

He cleared his throat staring at what she had written, "you want me to uh… deliver a message for you." Alaric looked at the empty monster he had once loved, "screw you, you selfish bitch."

He began to rise and leave but Isobel grabbed his arm in a nearly painful grip and kept him from leaving. "You better tell Elena I wanna meet or I will open an all you eat buffet starting with your students." With that she released him and vanished again. _Dammit_, he thought.

Night 30

The next morning Elena called Damon, thinking that perhaps they could talk through their argument last night. She heard him answer but he didn't say a word, "I have to work on the Miss Mystic Day Float for the parade or I'll have to face the wrath of Caroline. But I wanted to see if maybe we could talk later?…"

He didn't respond for the longest time. She almost hung thinking he wasn't actually there but then he answered, "have fun with Miss Mystic Queen, I know I did." Then he hung up on her.

Elena choked back the wave of jealousy that flooded through her. _What was that about? _

She headed into the busy crowd of float workers looking for Caroline and Bonnie. Alaric though immediately caught her attention and motioned for her to follow him. They slipped into his classroom and then he told her the news of Isobel's arrival in Mystic Falls.

"I called Damon, he's on his way," he told her.

Elena tried not to squirm or run away at the idea of seeing Damon, after all she had just called him to see if he was willing to talk things through with her earlier.

Damon walked in less than ten minutes later, "sorry I'm late," he smirked to the teacher, "my dog ate my… never mind." He was back to his regular pre-Stefan's-death Damon. He stopped short when he saw her and wouldn't quite look her in the eye.

"Isobel's back," Alaric summed up for him.

Damon looked between the two of him, his anger at Elena forgotten. "Isobel's here? In Mystic Falls?" He looked over at Elena, but she wouldn't meet his eyes either, he could see the concern etched into her face though. "Did you ask about John? Are they working together?"

"No," Alaric answered.

"No? They're not working together?"

"No, I didn't ask." A flash of anger crossed Damon's face as Alaric told him this.

Damon began pacing, "what about the invention?"

Again the teacher's answer was "didn't ask."

Damon turned on him, "did you ask anything?" He was getting very, very agitated with these humans.

Alaric rose to anger himself, "I was a little too distracted my dead wife."

"What did she want?"

Elena answered this one, finally speaking to him. "She wanted to see me Damon."

His blue eyes met hers and he saw the pain there. He hated seeing Elena in pain like this, "you don't have to see her if you don't want to." If Elena didn't want to see her, Damon knew he'd kill Isobel before forcing that on Elena.

Elena shrugged and stared back at him, "I don't really have a choice."

"She's threatening to go on a killing spree," Alaric explained.

Damon went back to his light humor, "and I take it you people aren't okay with that?" Both Alaric and Elena just stared at him.

"I wanna do it, I wanna meet her. I know if I don't… I'll regret it." Elena looked dead set on this so they agreed to just go with it then.

Elena sat alone at the Mystic Grill a few hours later waiting for her birth mother. Neither Damon, Alaric were being allowed to join them. She was all alone in this. Finally Isobel showed. She was beautiful, with hair a few shades darker than Elena's and pretty hazel eyes. But as beautiful as she was Elena could still feel the waves of inhumanity pouring off of her.

"Hello Elena," Isobel purred. "You look just like her. It's eerie."

Immediately Elena knew who she meant, "you've met Katherine?"

"She found me after I turned, genetic curiosity I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."

Elena noted the amulet around Isobel's neck and automatically figured out how Isobel was getting around in the day. "Who's my father?" She had to know for sure that it was indeed Uncle John.

"Not important, he was a teenage waste of space," Isobel dead panned. She refused to actually give up his name though. Elena still felt certain it was John though. "Why Stefan?" she asked then. "Why didn't you go for Damon? Or do you enjoy them both the way Katherine did?"

Elena fought to keep the pain from swallowing her, "Stefan's dead."

"Pity," Isobel said in return. Clearly she could careless about the pain her daughter was in.

Outside, across the street Damon and Alaric were pacing, waiting for Elena to come out. It had been a good thirty minutes past when Isobel was supposed to meet her and they were both getting anxious. Finally Elena stepped outside alone and came to meet them. There were tears nearly brimming in her eyes but she still told them what had happened. "She wants what John wants, that invention thing you took from Pearl Damon."

Damon looked somewhat pissed again, hating that he had ever bothered to turn that bitch.

Damon was sick of the game so he went to Isobel himself, he had to wait, playing strip poker and waiting with her human little friend but finally she showed. They kicked the human out and she asked him about the invention just as he knew she would. She wouldn't tell him what it was for though. Damon allowed her to play a cute little game of sexy-cat-and-mouse with him for a few moments before slamming her into the ground, his hand wrapped around her throat. "Going after Elena, bad move, Isobel," he growled at her as he slammed her down again. He would and could kill her, even for delivering a message for John. No body messed Elena, regardless of how pissed at her he was right now.

The memory of sleeping with that bitch, and even having to kiss her now for that game they had just played made his stomach churn. He really hated Isobel, and himself for doing that to her.

Elena was at home putting away her laundry when Bonnie knocked on her door. "I saw you at the grill earlier, you looked so sad but then you rushed away before I could say anything to you."

Elena broke down at seeing her friend, "I met my birth mother." With that she began to cry openly as Bonnie soothed and cooed her.

After awhile Bonnie pulled Emily's spell book out of her bag, "I've been looking through this and apparently Emily spelled Jonathan Gilbert's devices. Including this," she turned to the page illustrating the device both John and Isobel were looking for.

"That's the device," Elena affirmed.

"Well that's what I don't get," Bonnie pointed out, "this device is a weapon against vampires Elena." They both sat confused over what was going on with this thing.

Caroline called pulling them out of their revere and they both rushed over to help her with the float. Jeremy stopped to ask Elena if she knew what was going on with Anna, that she was missing. And then he told her the news she had been dreading to hear, he knew everything. About the vampires, about Anna, about Vicki and how his memory had been erased. In the end he stormed off mad at her.

Isobel showed up and threatened her some more, pressing her to get the device from Damon then. Elena turned after she left to find Jeremy and talk to him, only to find that he was missing.

Damon met with Elena, Bonnie, and Alaric back in the school again. "I'm not going to give Isobel the device just so she can turn around and give it to John. I happen to like being a living dead person. I'll get Jeremy another way."

Elena stared at him, and all that pain over loosing his brother Stefan was glaring him in the face. "Please Damon," he could hear in her voice that she would do anything to get him to agree.

"Fine, but I'm not staying in Mystic Falls so that they can kill me." He looked at Elena dead on, he would leave. Leave her, leave everything if it meant his survival.

Elena met Isobel in the park an hour later, she immediately demanded Jeremy be handed over safely. "Call home," Isobel told her. She did and thankfully Jeremy was there safe from harm.

After being told that Isobel would have killed him Elena couldn't help but ask her why she had so much faith in her. Isobel told her, "I don't, I had faith in Damon."

"Why?" Elena asked.

"Because he's in love with you." Isobel disappeared again into the night taking the device with her as if she had never been there.

Damon was back at the boarding house packing up his clothes getting ready to leave when Elena knocked on his bedroom door. "Get out," he told her.

"No," she paused and then came towards him. "Damon,… I… I'm sorry."

He turned towards her and let some of his anger drain out of him, "for what?"

She stepped forward until they were just inches apart, "for hurting you… making you leave… I.. I wish you didn't have to leave."

"Why?" he choked out hoarsely.

Elena didn't know how to explain it, the way she felt about him. The way the idea of loosing him, to anyone or anything ripped her apart inside. There were no words so she used actions instead leaning upwards towards him and kissing him.

Her lips were soft and warm as they stroked against his own. He groaned into her mouth and wrapped his fingers through her hair. Elena gasped against him as their kiss became more passionate, finally Elena broke away from him. She stepped back and began to unbutton his pants for him. Damon watched her and tried to keep control of his baser instincts.

"I don't want to loose you Damon, I've been so selfish lately. Forgive me," she told him as she kissed him and began to unzip his pants. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep you with me," there was a mist of tears in her eyes as she dropped to her knees before him.

Then all Damon could focus on was her warm hand wrapping around him, pulling him free of his pants. Her tongue traced a circular pattern over the head of him, taking in the slick wetness gathered there. It was the most incredible experience he had ever felt. His head rolled back and his eyes closed as she began to work his length into her warm, wet mouth.

Then what she had said hit him and his eyes snapped open. Damon dragged her away from her task and turned to zip his pants. Elena looked completely hurt, desperate even. "Don't Elena," he wiped the tears from her eyes.

"But I thought you wanted me… I know you love me…" she sobbed.

He pulled her into his arms and closed his eyes, letting her cry against him. "I do. I am. But you don't feel the same way and I can't let you this to yourself."

Elena cried even harder and pushed him away slightly so she could answer him. "But I do love you, Damon. I'm just not ready yet… I only lost Stefan's a month ago."

He searched her eyes, seeing the truth of what she had said in them, and the pain. And then he couldn't hold it back anymore, he kissed her. His lips brushed hers over and over again, letting all of his pain and frustration and love for her burst forth from that kiss. He could taste their mingled tears on her lips. Finally he pulled away, "come with me."


	9. Chapter 9

Night 30

"Come with me," Damon repeated.

Elena's eyes were filled with a glowing light as she stared back at him, "I have to do something before we leave." He looked at questioningly, "I have to warn Jeremy, at least give him some chance at getting Anna to safety, otherwise I think I'll loose him for good."

Damon breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Have them meet us here and we can all go up to the cabin together."

Elena promptly called her brother, "hey Jer, I didn't wake you did I?"

"No. No, I'm up." He sounded so worn out.

"Did you find Anna?"

There was a pause, "yah. Elena… Uncle John killed her mom though."

"He's going to try to kill her too, he's got some sort of device, a weapon to use against the vampires. I'm leaving town with Damon and we thought you two might want to come with us, that way you're both safe."

Elena waited for his answer, finally it came. "Thanks Elena."

She thought one of one last thing, "You guys can meet us here at the boarding house in an hour okay. Oh and, Jeremy could you do me a favor before you leave?"

"I guess," he seemed reluctant but at least he'd listen to her request.

"Could you take my diary with you, destroy, something… just don't let Aunt Jenna see it. Please."

Her brother laughed, "yah sure no problem. I've been wanting to do that since I was six anyway."

Elena laughed with him, "See you in an hour then, and you two be careful Jer." The siblings said their goodbyes and Elena hung up.

Damon was finishing packing up a few last minute things in his bag. "Your overnight bag is still here from when you last spent the night."

Elena smiled at him, "yah I kinda forgot it on my way out."

He gave her a devilish smile, "I think you were too distracted by seeing me in the shower."

They both laughed, "is that what it was?"

He looked thoughtful, "I'm sorry I was being such an ass, Elena."

She leaned her head into his shoulder and breathed in his scent, "I'm used to it." Damon chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her and absorbed her warmth.

They wondered downstairs and tossed their bags into the trunk of his car. Elena texted Alaric letting him know what was going on and asking him to take care Aunt Jenna while she and Jeremy were gone. He texted back telling her to keep in touch and be careful. Damon sat down next to her on the couch as they waited for Anna and Jeremy. They should arrive in less than thirty minutes now but they were still grateful to have the time alone. Elena cuddled into Damon's embrace and just soaked up the moment. He loved her. Damon Salvatore had spent close to one hundred and fifty years loving and searching for Katherine, and now he loved _her_. She couldn't help but smile.

"What's got you so happy, kitten?" Damon whispered to her.

Elena smiled up at him, "you love me."

Damon turned her face upwards and held her there gently before brushing a kiss across her lips. He gently sucked her lower lip into his mouth and stroked his tongue over it until she moaned into his mouth. She opened her mouth to allow him access but he pulled back instead and whispered to her. "Yes, I do."

She sat dumbfounded as she watched him, "tease."

Damon laughed at her and then turned as he heard the front door open and Anna and Jeremy walked in. "Hey lovely couple, you two escaped easily?"

"Yah," Jeremy answered as he laid down his bag and handed Elena her journal.

"Oh thanks, Jer," she smiled at her brother.

The four of them headed towards the car together, but Damon paused and stopped Anna while Jeremy and Elena piled into the car. "Are you okay?" he asked her quietly.

Anna glanced solemnly up at him, "he killed my mother for no reason Damon. What do you think?" Damon nodded at this and got behind the wheel to start the drive out of town to his cabin.

"So where are we going exactly?" Jeremy asked from the backseat.

Damon had just driven past the 'Leaving Mystic Falls' sign, "to my cabin."

"Yah but where's it at?" Elena's brother pressed.

"It's across the quarry," Elena answered as she watched the scenery fly past them.

"There's nothing across the quarry," Jeremy mumbled and both Elena and Damon rolled their eyes at the stubborn teen.

After the forty five minute drive they all piled out of the car and Elena nearly laughed as she heard Jeremy's surprised expression at seeing the cabin. She watched as her younger brother slipped his arm around Anna's slim shoulders and they headed inside. She and Damon followed them inside, carrying their bags.

Anna and Jeremy were looking around the small cabin when they got in. "You two can have the bedroom, its through there," he pointed. "The bathroom's over there. And I brought enough blood to last us about a week. There's food for you two in the fridge and cabinets too."

Anna took in what he said and then walked off alone into the bedroom. "You should go make sure she's okay," Elena told her brother and he nodded before leaving the room. The bedroom door closed a few seconds later and Elena sighed from exhaustion. "I guess we're sleeping on the couch again."

Damon wrapped his arms around her and pulled Elena down onto his lap, "that's not gonna be a problem is it?"

"Nope." She smiled and kissed him, a slow and sweet movement of her lips across his. Damon kept his mouth closed though, even as her tongue prodded against his lips begging for access. Elena growled and pulled on his hair, forcing his head back with a sharp jerk and finally he opened his mouth with a gasp. Elena eagerly swirled her tongue into his mouth and let her eyes roll back at the taste of him. Damon dug his fingers into her thigh as he held her close to him, and she could feel his length hardened even further under her ass. He groaned as she pushed down on him and then pushed her off of him dumping her on the couch. He was up and across the room opening the fridge instantly.

"Damon?" she asked as she sat up and looked at him.

"I haven't eaten yet today," he answered as he poured himself a glass of blood from the fridge. He drank it down quickly as he watched her.

"Oh," Elena smiled. "Sorry Damon."

"It's okay," he mumbled as he finished drinking his blood. He turned to wash out his glass in the sink and found that Elena was still watching him with a smile on her face. "What?" he asked as he rejoined her.

"Nothing, you're just cute," Damon rolled his eyes as Elena curled up into his arms and pulled the blanket on the back of the couch down to cover both of them.

The next day Bonnie was walking to the Mystic Grill, her car was in the shop but it was a nice day out at least. She was just passing the Wilkins building, it was an emptied out old costume shop, when she felt it. A wave of psychic energy, strong and vampiric. There were vampires in there, and from the feel of it, lots of them. She rushed past them and called Elena.

Elena was woken up when her cell phone went off and she shifted out of where she was huddled in Damon's arms. He stirred next to her and watched as she answered, it was Bonnie. "Hey Bonnie, what's up?"

"There are a lot of vampires camped out at the Wilkins old building Elena, like a lot. I could feel them there." She sounded really freaked out as she filled them in on what happened.

Anna and Jeremy came in as they were talking. "Yah, the old tomb vamps, they want to get revenge on the founding families still."

"You knew about this?" Damon asked incredulous.

"I just found out two days ago Damon," Anna was defensive. "Who did you think was stealing all that blood from the blood bank anyway?"

He groaned next to Elena, "look just tell Bonnie to call John and have him set off his weapon today, before night fall. And don't let them know where we are, or that we aren't there."

"Elena, did I just hear Damon say that you weren't here?" Bonnie asked from the other end of the phone.

Elena got up off the couch and walked a little bit away, "um, yah but I need you to let John think we are Bonnie. Please," she added. "Just tell him about the vampires and be all scared, just do whatever it takes to get him to use that device and get rid of the vampires."

Bonnie paused for a moment, "okay, Elena. I'll trust you on this." The two friends said goodbye and everyone else seemed to relax.

Just then Elena's stomach growled, she laughed softly, "I guess I'm hungry."

Anna gave her a shy smile, "yah me too." Both girls headed to the fridge and pulled out very different breakfasts to eat.

Jeremy flopped down onto the couch next to Damon. He stared ahead of him as he started a very awkward conversation with Damon, well aware his sister was less than ten feet away. "So you and my sister….?"

Damon laughed softly, "yep."

The younger man just nodded, "alright." Damon looked at him and then they fell into a comfortable silence.

The four of them grew restless, talking and sitting together by the middle of that afternoon. Finally Jeremy and Elena dug out some of Damon's board games, to which Elena raised a brow at him. They voted and it unanimous that they should play Risk.

Damon shrugged, "nothing better than spending an afternoon taking over the world."

Jeremy and Anna both laughed at this.

They had been playing most of the day, taking regular bathroom and eating breaks. It was nearly one in the morning, but they still hadn't finished their game. They were all dragging it out, waiting for news and trying to keep busy. Finally Bonnie called Elena, "Bonnie," Elena sighed grateful her friend had finally called. "What happened?"

Elena could hear Bonnie take a deep breath on the other end of the line. "The vampires are gone Elena, that device it did something to them, they just all collapsed and then they were rounded up. John had them put in the basement of your Dad's building. He burnt them Elena, all of them. The building was destroyed," she paused. Elena swallowed the bad news over her father's business. "There's more Elena, the Mayor was one of the people who went down. John had knocked out Sheriff Forbes, and well she saw him throw the Mayor's unconscious body downstairs… she shot him Elena. John's dead, the Mayor too." Elena's heart thudded and tripped for a moment. Her father was dead, her real father. "And on top of everything else Tyler got into a car accident and Caroline an Matt were with him. Caroline's in the hospital. We don't know what's wrong yet…" Elena didn't say anything for a few moments, trying to process it all. She closed her eyes, and just breathed. Still she could feel all eyes in the room on her. "You okay, Elena?" Bonnie asked.

"Yah, yah… I just I've gotta go…" Elena hung up and walked out onto the front porch. Uncle John Gilbert was dead, really dead. The ring would only protect him from vampires, not humans with guns. She didn't know whether to wail in anguish or laugh with relief. It was over, all the trouble, all the pain of the last few months was over with. She could just be happy now, Elena began to laugh and collapsed from the exhaustion she hadn't known she was caring with her.

Damon was instantly there to catch her before she hit the ground. He had of course heard every word of her conversation with Bonnie. Damon wiped a stray stream of tears from her face, "Elena?"

She laughed and wrapped her arms around Damon's neck, "I'm fine, its just so much Damon." Elena pulled him into a hard, passionate kiss that he eagerly returned. Damon lifted Elena into his arms, never breaking their kiss, he held her tightly against him. Finally Elena pressed her hands to his shoulders pushing him back, and breaking their kiss. She gasped, "need air!"

Damon chuckled, "sorry Elena." He gently pressed a kiss to her lips before setting her on the ground.

When they went inside they found Anna and Jeremy putting away the game. "It's safe to go back into town," Damon told them and threw them his car keys. "Get out," he growled at them good naturedly.

The younger couple left them alone together, and Damon led Elena into the bedroom. Damon picked Elena up in his arms and kissed her again, their lips and tongues moving and dancing together, before he laid her gently on the bed. Damon moved from her lips to pull off her shoes and lay them at the end of his bed. Elena smiled at him and pulled him down next to her. He spooned his body against her own wrapping an arm around her waist. Elena turned against him with a questioning look. "Shh," he whispered before she was able to say anything to him. Damon placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, and then worked his way down her jaw line and the side of her neck. "Go to sleep Elena, in the morning we can deal with all the rest of this." Their fingers interlocked and Elena fell into a peaceful asleep, right where she belonged.

**A/N: I know this was awfully smutty and skipped a lot of the angst in the shows season finale, but hey I don't like angst anyway. Also not to fret this is going to get way smuttier from here on out. **

**And a grateful thank you to all my readers and reviewers. You guys all rock. **


	10. Chapter 10

It was just after nine when Elena awoke the next morning, the sound of singing had lulled her out of a peaceful rest. She stretched and then padded barefoot out of the bedroom looking for Damon. The bathroom door was closed but she could still him singing in the shower. He wasn't half bad actually but she still couldn't make out the words. Elena laughed when suddenly the realization of what he was singing hit her. It was 'Walk this Way' by Aerosmith. She giggled again and pushed open the bathroom door.

Damon sure enough was singing and dancing around under the spray of the water. The shower door was made from a clear plexi-glass so she could see ever ripple of his muscles as he moved. Instantly she felt the familiar twinge of arousal that always accompanied watching Damon do anything. Elena leaned against the door frame and just watched him. His shoulders would flex, and then his back would ripple, and then his ass would tighten. Over and over as he moved, it was a cycle of contracting and releasing muscles that flowed in a continuous stream of sexiness. She practically moaned when Damon turned off the shower and stepped out. Then she nearly swallowed her tongue, his was hard, and long, and wet, and he wouldn't stop dancing.

"Good morning, sunshine," Damon told her as he picked up a towel and began to dry his chest first, leaving her to look at his member all she wanted. Finally he looked up and smiled at just what she was gawking at. "Like something you see?" he asked as he dropped the towel to the ground and walked right up to her. Damon pressed every inch of himself against her and was surprised when she leaned into him instead of stepping back.

"Mmm, I guess now I feel something I like," Elena flirted, letting her fingers trail along the banded muscles in his arms.

Damon groaned and rubbed himself along the front of her before sliding his arms around her. Their lips met in a slow, delicious tasting of one another, as he slid one hand up and down her back soothing her. When he used his other hand to grope her ass suddenly Elena slammed her body into his out of surprise and broke their kiss.

"Something wrong Elena," Damon waggled his brows at her.

"You're wet," she whispered comspirationally to him.

Damon laughed and stepped back to finish drying off. "So are you."

She just smiled at his comment for a moment before she began stripping. Damon turned to watch her pull first her shirt off, and then to slide her pants down her long tan legs. "What are you doing Elena?" he rasped out as she unhooked her bra.

Elena quirked a brow at him, "taking a shower, that is of course assuming that you left me any hot water." With that she dropped her panties to the floor and climbed in the shower.

Damon looked at her then down at her notably wet undergarments and then back her completely dumbfounded, and completely turned on. He rubbed the towel down over himself drying himself but as he watched Elena under the spray of the water he began to rub himself in a completely different way. Elena's back was arched and she tilted her head back to wet her hair. Damon could see every curve in perfect profile. He leaned back against the counter top and enjoyed the show. As her hands rubbed over her breast soaping them up liberally, his own hand gripped hard around his shaft.

Elena could see Damon touching himself, watching her out of the corner of her eye. It was by far the hottest thing she had ever seen. She couldn't help but enjoy the water and soap running over her skin, warm and slick, as she watched him began to pump at his member. Her hands were growing more urgent even though she was being careful not to touch herself too blatantly. She watched as Damon, moaned and came hard, his whole body shuddering. She couldn't stand it anymore. Elena turned off the shower and crossed the room to him, pressing her body against his now satiated one. She kissed full and deep, Damon moaned into her mouth. "Mmm looks like we're both very wet now," Elena whispered to him as she broke the kiss.

Damon realized just what they were doing and pulled away. "Yah, we should get dried off and dressed." He stressed the word dressed to her and she instantly wondered why he was holding back.

"Damon….?"

He turned back to her, "it's still too soon I think. We'll get there kitten, as long as we can avoiding do this every morning," he chuckled.

Elena understood that, he wanted to be sure that she was over Stefan. That he was all she wanted. They could wait, knowing Damon wanted her, loved her, was enough for now.

After eating breakfast they stepped outside only to be reminded that Damon had given Jeremy the keys to his car last night. Elena laughed, "looks like we're stuck here."

"I don't think so," Damon growled and pulled her against him. Damon looked her in the eye before lifting her, Elena wrapped her legs around his waist with a questioning look. He waggled his brows at her, "just hold on." Suddenly he was moving them, trees, road, plant life, and then Mystic Falls itself were flying past them. Everything was a blur of color and sound, it was beautiful and breathtaking all at once.

Then just as suddenly Damon was depositing Elena on her bed. Elena looked around and laughed, "that was amazing!"

"I know," he purred at her before flopping down onto the bed next to her. Damon laced his fingers with hers before lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing it gently, "so what would you like to do today?"

Elena looked at him and smiled, "how about we just stay home and veg out, watch some TV and eat junk food?"

"Mmm sounds good, but first I think we need to get your Aunt to take off that vervain charm you gave her so you won't get grounded for the next eternity." He was very quiet as if waiting for her to yell at him for suggesting it.

She was about to, when the reasoning behind what he said dawned on her. It was Tuesday, she wasn't in school, and didn't go yesterday. Plus she and Jeremy had both just taken off with no explanation. In this case, with everything that had happened she could really use a reprieve. Elena sighed, "yah that might be wise."

Damon looked at her surprised she had agreed. Elena crawled out of bed and Damon watched her for a moment enjoying the way her jeans hugged her ass before he followed her downstairs. Jenna was in the kitchen and she immediately lit into the young girl. "Where the hell have you been Elena? And where's your brother? I've been worried sick about you?"

Elena pressed her lips together, she had never seen Jenna this angry before. "Are you wearing that bracelet I gave you Jenna?" Elena just wanted this to be over so that they'd be okay again.

"What? No! Why does that matter Elena?" Jenna was yelling still.

Damon stepped forward and caught her eye to begin his compulsion, "it matters because from this moment on you should always wear it Jenna. Further more Elena and Jeremy aren't in trouble, Uncle John was acting weird so you asked me to look after them for a few days. They're fine and don't have to worry about going to school until Monday, that way they have some time to grieve. You're glad they're home and safe now, they'll be fine. You all will. And tonight you're going to ask Alaric Saltzman out to a romantic dinner to celebrate. Now I want you to go upstairs, put your bracelet on, and forget we ever talked about this." Damon released her from his compulsion and Jenna automatically went upstairs to put on her bracelet.

Elena sighed behind it, "its done?"

Damon turned back to her, "yep."

They smiled shyly at each other for a moment until they heard Jenna coming back downstairs. "Oh hey Damon," Jenna said, back to her old chipper self. "When did you get here?"

"Just a little bit ago," he smiled at her.

Jenna smiled back, "so what are you two up to today?"

"We're just gonna watch some TV and hang out," Elena told her.

"Okay," her aunt paused. "Oh, and thanks again for looking after Elena and Jeremy at the boarding house Damon. I was really worried about how crazy John was acting."

"No problem," Damon smiled and sat down on the couch. "So Elena," he started, looking back at her now, "what would you like to watch."

She laughed and plopped down next to him. "I'm not even sure what's on right now, lets just flip through the channels till we find something good."

"Works for me," Damon shrugged and then put his arm around Elena, holding her close.

Jenna watched them cuddle on the couch with a smile. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of Elena being with someone so much older than she was but Damon was good for her. Jenna shrugged it off though figuring it was just plain good that her niece wasn't miserable over Stefan leaving anymore.

Damon and Elena were laying, cuddled up on the couch watching Animal Planet. There was a special on about giraffes and surprisingly they were both enjoying it. Elena's cell buzzed, it was Jeremy. "Hey Elena, you ever drag your ass home from Damon's?" her brother teased.

"Yah we're home now Jer," she laughed. "What's up?"

"Oh Anna and I were just having dinner at the grill and well avoiding Aunt Jenna's wrath. How pissed is she?"

Elena looked up at where her aunt was talking to Alaric on the phone in the kitchen, asking him out it seemed. "Yah, don't worry about it Jer, Damon fixed it."

Damon smirked and then motioned for Elena to hand him the phone. "Hey Jer," he greeted. "Where's my car at?"

Jeremy laughed, "parked outside the Mystic Grill, you wanna come get it?"

"Yah, I'll do that," Damon smiled and sat up. "I'll be there in five minutes or so, don't go anywhere kay." Damon hung up and handed Elena her phone. "I'll be right back."

Elena smiled, "okay… just remember you are the one who loaned him your car Damon."

He nodded and waved on his way out the door.

Jenna came to lean over the back of the couch to talk to Elena, "what was that about?" she asked.

"Oh, uh… Damon lent Anna and Jeremy his car for a little while."

Jenna looked somewhat surprised but then decided to just ask what was really on her mind. "So are you….? Going out?"

Elena smiled, "yah… we kinda are."

"Please tell me you two haven't been… having unprotected sex or something." Jenna actually looked like she might faint.

"Relax Aunt Jenna," Elena laughed. "We haven't been having sex at all."

"Yet…" Jenna muttered under her breath.

Elena just smiled at her, _yah_, _yet_, she thought.

Later that night Elena was writing in her journal for the first time since Stefan had died when she heard music playing downstairs. Jenna had gone out for the night though, and Jeremy was helping Anna move into one of the spare rooms at the boarding house. There was only person who that could be. She padded downstairs barefoot to find most of her house cast in shadows, there was a soft glow coming from the kitchen though. Elena followed it to find Damon laying out the most beautiful meal she had ever seen. He had made her favorite kind of pasta with baked chicken and lit candles for them.

"Hey buttercup," he smiled at her as he poured them each a glass of white wine. "I thought we should maybe have a first official date, and well I'm impatient so… Ta-da."

Elena smiled and took her appointed seat, "this is amazing Damon. No one's ever done anything like this for me."

"Yah well, I've been wanting to do this for a while now… we're still not having sex tonight though." Elena raised a brow at his comment but accepted it. She could jump him some other time then. And besides just because they weren't going to have sex didn't mean they couldn't do other things. They ate and chatted about everything and nothing all at once.

Finally when the meal was over, they went back to their familiar routine of helping each other clean up. Damon brushed against her chest on purpose just as he had done months ago, "oh sorry." He waggled his brows at her and smirked.

Elena turned from him and purposely rubbed her ass across the front of him, making him moan. "Yah sorry, this kitchen is so cluttered. Must be why we keep running into each other." She smiled over her shoulder at him and she put her dishes in the sink.

Damon chuckled, "yep. Maybe we should go to a bigger room though, just to be sure its not just us being clumsy."

"Hmm…. Where do you suppose we should try this experiment out at then?"

Damon stepped forward and rubbed his palms down her sides to rest lightly on her hips, "maybe your bedroom?"

Elena ran her hands down his chest to his flat stomach and then back up as she pretended to be idly thinking it over. "Mmm… I don't know if it's bigger, we might bump into each other more."

"We'll just have to try and found out."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This chapter's pure smut. No plot just smoking hot lovin'. You were warned. *devious smile* **

Elena blew out the candles that were still burning from dinner and led Damon upstairs to her bedroom. He could hear her heart thudding hard and fast in his chest, and smell the nervous tension coming off of her. Still he allowed her to lead him into her bedroom. Once there she closed the door and turned back to him with a shy smile and leaned into him. Damon could feel her heart pounding into his chest, a flutter of life, like holding a humming bird. "Elena.." he whispered. She smiled and leaned the rest of the way up to kiss him, allowing every inch of her body caress along his. Her lips were soft and warmed as they brushed across his own, over and over they kissed. Damon wrapped his hands into her hair and pulled her tighter to him deepening the kiss. Elena gasped and allowed his tongue access. Their kiss kept going until neither could stand it anymore. Elena pulled back, "there's something I've been wanting to do to you for a very long time. Will you let me do it?"

Damon waggled his brow at her, letting his eyes twinkle with their shared mischief. "Is it very naughty?"

"Oh yes," she purred and then pushed him back on the bed. He laughed at her and then watched with intent interest as she pulled her shirt off and straddled him topless. Damon loved seeing her like this, in just her bra and jeans, poised over him. Her hair flew around in wild disarray and she was smiling down at him. Elena pushed her hips down on his groin and smirked, "looks like you naughty."

"Oh yes," Damon growled as he pulled Elena down into a fierce embrace. His tongue once again demanded entrance as he kissed and rolled his hips against her. Elena was moaning in his mouth as she began a slow dance of her hips on him. It was agonizing to feel her warmth, to smell how badly she wanted him, and have the cloth of their jeans and undergarments separate them. Damon couldn't resist running a hand down the front of her, taking in the warmth and softness of her breast. She was practically spilling out of her bra already, and she groaned in ecstasy and bucked against him. Damon smiled into her mouth as he reached around to her back and unclasp her bra.

Elena pulled back to look at him as her bra fell away from her flawless breast. "I'm sorry Elena, I shouldn't have…" Damon began thinking he had crossed the line with her.

She shook her head to quiet him, "no its not that, its just… how on earth did you do that without looking?" She raised a puzzled brow at him. All Damon could do was laugh and kiss her again. She reached between them and removed the bra entirely, allowing her hardening nipples to brush against his chest.

He again moved his hand to cup her breast as she continued to grind against him. Damon couldn't remember the last time he had just enjoyed being with some like this_. Never probably, God knew Katherine had never had the patience for any sort of fore play_. He pushed all thoughts of his past out of his mind and focused on the beauty before him.

Elena gasped as he rolled one perfectly taut nipple around with his thumb.

It wasn't enough though, he wanted to touch all of her. Damon rolled them so that she lay underneath him and propped his weight on his elbow. She lay flushed and gasping for much needed air beneath him.

Damon sat up and quickly pulled his shirt off and let her feel the strength of his flesh against her. Elena smiled up at him, love glowing in her eyes. Then she began to trace his muscles with the lightest of touches as she watched his face. Damon allowed her to take her time exploring him. Finally Elena pulled him down to her for another kiss and their naked chest pressed together. Damon's eyes rolled back in his head, this was what heaven felt like, he was sure of it.

Again their kisses grew more heated and passionate, their hands moved back and forth along each other more and more. Elena was moaning, sighing, gasping softly more and more, growing desperate to have more. He was more than happy to deliver too.

Damon looked her in the eye as he began to place soft kisses down one collar bone and then the other. His hand rested flat against the side of her stomach, just touching her. Another kiss was placed on her chest, he allowed his mouth to open and tasted her flesh lightly with his tongue for a moment. Then he moved to kiss first her left breast the same and then her right. Damon gently pulled a nipple between his teeth and then circled his tongue around it gently.

Elena arched her back and allowed the waves of pleasure to wash through her body. Damon continued, kissing, sucking, nipping along her abdomen, going lower and lower. When he came to her belly button he kissed that too before circle his tongue around the small opening, then he gently plunged his tongue inside. A shudder raced through her as she thought of him doing that to another hole lower on her body.

Damon nuzzled against her pant line and looked up at her expectantly. She reached between them and unbuttoned her jeans, Damon stopped her from unzipping them though as he moved her hand gently away. Instead her looked her in the eyes with a mischievous smirk and pulled the zipper of her jeans down with his teeth. Elena swallowed heavily, that was definitely the sexiest thing she had ever seen.

Damon slid his fingers under both her jeans and her panties and slid them off together leaving Elena laying naked and exposed before him. He swallowed the lump in his throat, she was so beautiful. He reached to pull her legs apart, intent on making her scream his name in pleasure. But Elena held her legs together and stopped him. "Wait, what about your pants?"

"They're staying on tonight," he smiled at her.

She shook her head, "that's not fair to you Damon. You're giving me so much pleasure why won't you let me return the favor?" Her brows were furrowed with concern.

Damon leaned into her for a moment before pulling her hand to his hard length, he pressed her fingers into him. Elena couldn't help but feel how long and hard he was through his jeans. "Don't worry," he told her, "I am enjoying Elena. Let me _torture_ you tonight, and next time you'll get your chance to 'return the favor.'"

Finally she smiled at him again as she gripped him through his jeans, "I like the sound of that… next time…"

Damon leaned forward and kissed her lips gently before sliding his hands between her legs and returning to his desired task. He spread her out before him and grinned when he saw just how swollen and wet she was for him. "Mmm.." he groaned as he began to peal her outer lips apart. Elena was breathing hard and trying not to squirm or close her legs. Damon noticed her hands were gripped tightly in the sheets, "relax kitten, I haven't even started yet." And with that he did in earnest.

Damon slid a single finger inside her and pulled her clit into his mouth. He sucked at her as he worked his way in and out of her tight sheath. Elena was moaning and bucking from the waves of pleasure ripping through her. Damon pulled back his hand and inserted a second finger, now letting his tongue flick across her. He pulled his hand completely away as he felt the first signs of her orgasm coming and replace it with his tongue. His talented tongue swirled and dipped around her entrance before plunging in. Elena arched all the way off the bed as the orgasm took her, screaming his name as she did.

Damon pulled back to watch her ride it out and began to fuck her hard and fast with his fingers again. Elena's body shuddered and contracting around him over and over again until she lay moaning and exhausted on the bed.

Finally Damon pulled his hand away and laid next to her. She watched with hooded lids as he sucked her juices off his fingers and pulled the blankets up around them. Elena kissed him, loving tasting herself on his mouth. "Mmm… Next time your mine Damon."

He chuckled beside her, "I was always yours silly."


	12. Chapter 12

Today was the funeral, they were going to bury Uncle John Gilbert just three plots over from Elena's parents. Damon double checked to be sure his tie was on straight before heading out the door. He was driving Elena and Jeremy, while Jenna was going with Alaric. Anna had declined going all together, not that anyone could blame her.

He stopped to check in on her before heading out. Anna had moved into one of the spare rooms just a few days ago, she was painting it though. "The blue looks nice," he commented as he peeked in.

Anna turned and nodded at him, "yah. Thanks for… everything Damon." They both paused in a companionable silence for a moment, "so you're bringing Elena and Jeremy back here for that family dinner thing tonight?"

"Yah, Alaric and Jenna are joining us at six."

"That's good," she smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Yep," Damon continued on out the door after that.

He was pulling up in front of the Gilbert house just twenty minutes later. Alaric was already there and answered the door for him. Everyone seemed somber, yet there was no tinge of melancholy in the air over John's death. Damon smiled and waved hello to Jenna who was having coffee in the kitchen, before he sat on the couch with Jeremy. Elena came down the stairs five minutes later and Damon instantly felt his fingers twitch. He could hardly believe it had been just two days ago when he had last touched her. Really touched her, they still slept side by side but it wasn't quite the same anymore. Damon could still smell her juices coating him, taste her on his tongue, feel her warm soft flesh around him. It took him a few seconds to talk little Damon into behaving enough for him to stand properly.

Elena smiled at him, happy to see him blend in with her family so perfectly. She realized that Stefan had never even attempted to be a part of her family, and a wave of guilt for thinking it washed through her.

"What's wrong?" Damon whispered, noticing the pained look in her eyes.

She looked back and whispered back, "I'll tell you in the car." He nodded and they all set out for the funeral.

An hour later the sun was shining as John was lowered into the ground. Caroline was out of the hospital and standing next to her guilty looking mother, Matt was holding her hand. Bonnie was watching Elena carefully, not sure if she liked the developing relationship between her best friend and the eldest Salvatore brother. Tyler, and his mother were absent from the funeral today. Mayor Lockwood had been given a wake the day before, and no one expected his widow or son to come to his murderer's funeral.

The Gilbert's themselves were holding no memorial or wake. Instead they stood with their closest loved ones and watched as dirt was piled onto John's coffin. When it was over Jenna waved goodbye to her two young wards as they piled back into Damon's car. Damon had seen a glimpse of dark hair and ivory skin, Isobel, but she nodded at him and left without a word to anyone. She knew she wasn't a welcome part of Elena's life.

When he pulled up in front of the boarding house Jeremy automatically bounded out of the car and inside. Damon was seriously questioning why he had allowed Anna to move in since it would limit his time alone with Jeremy's older sister. Elena sat still in the car with him for a moment. He turned towards her, "something wrong kitten?"

Elena turned to him and smiled, "I was just wondering how we could spend the hours until dinner…"

He got out of the car, and opened her door for her quickly. "I'm sure we'll think of something." Before Elena could utter a reply he lifted her in his arms and raced through the house at inhuman speeds until they were standing in the attic together.

She glanced around surprised and then quirked her brow at him. "Why are we in the attic Damon?"

Damon pulled her against him, letting her feel how hard he was beneath his suit. "Anna can't hear us up here," his brows waggled and his eyes sparkled before we kissed her.

Elena sighed and let the heat and passion between them dance and swirl as she pressed into him. "Mmm," she sighed. "You really should move your bed up here you know."

He laughed, "naw, I'm okay with a bit of exhibitionism."

Elena laughed in turn. "I always knew you were kinda kinky Damon."

He looked into her dark brown eyes seriously then, "are you worried that you can't handle me Elena?"

She walked to a large trunk in the corner and sat down on the edge of it, before looking at him just as seriously. There were traces of uncertainty in her gaze, "sometimes. I mean you've got over a century up on me. That's got to be a lot of practice right? Plus the human thing," she motioned to herself. "I always had this feeling before with Stefan that he was never quite satisfied being with me. Like I was too fragile to ever really be... enough."

She stopped her speech and Damon watched her for a moment before he came to kneel in front of her. He picked up her hands and began to lay gentle, feather light kisses along each fingertip. Damon stared into her eyes for a long moment in silence. "I love you Elena Gilbert. And while I am old enough to be your great-great-great-grandfather and then some… The only time that matters is the time I spend with you. The only woman I could ever be satisfied with is you. And the only experiences that matter are the ones I have with you." Damon kissed her wholly and fully then, and all her doubts melted away.

Elena deepened her kiss and leaned into him but as the kiss grew more and more ardent he pulled away with a groan. "You have no idea how badly I want to be inside you right now Elena."

"Show me," she whispered.

He stared deep into her eyes and knew she meant it, but still the time wasn't right. "Not yet."

Elena and Damon spent the rest of the day until dinner time just talking about everything and nothing. They explored a bit of what was to be found in the attic, mostly it was just old family photo albums and nick knacks. Finally something occurred to Elena, Damon and Stefan had both died before having children, so why were there still any Salvatore's around. She asked Damon about it as she looked over a very beautiful old quilt in one of the trunks.

"We had an older brother, Nick; our family, down to Zach, descended from him."

Elena's head shot up in surprise, "you had an older brother?"

Damon nodded, "he was nine years older than I am."

"What happened to him?" she moved closer to him and waited for the story.

"Nick went to Richmond and started a career as a tailor just after mother died." Damon laughed, "our father was so pissed, until he got word that Nick had married and had two sons himself that is."

He looked thoughtful for a while and Elena thought there must be more to the story. "What happened to him Damon?"

Damon glanced down, "when the war started he joined, and… and he died."

Something occurred to Elena suddenly, Damon had been there. "You were there weren't you Damon? You watched your brother die, that's why you left the war."

His jaw tightened and she watched the pain and anger dance inside him for a moment. Damon had watched both his brothers die in battle and he hadn't been able to save either of them. He opened his mouth to say something but she shook her head at him. No words were needed as she entangled her fingers with his own.

When dinner was over several hours later Jenna agreed to letting Elena and Jeremy spend the night there. She didn't know Anna was living there or she might have reconsidered but as it was she desperately needed time alone with Alaric after all that had happened. Anna and Jeremy were playing video games in the basement media room when Elena climbed the steps to Damon's room. She pressed a hand to Stefan's door lovingly as she passed. She would always love him, but what she had now with Damon was so much more.

Damon was lounging in bed in his pajama bottom's reading a book when she came in and laid next to him. Immediately he pulled her into his arms and she rested her head against his shoulder comfortably. "What are you reading?" she asked.

"Call of the Wild, Jack London." He closed his book after finishing the page he was on and laid it on the night stand next to him.

They lay in comfortable silence for a while as Damon combed gentle fingers through Elena's hair. Just when he was beginning to wonder if she had fallen asleep she shifted and looked up at him with a strangely curious expression. "So… besides exhibitionism, what other kinky business are you into exactly?"

Damon laughed and kissed her gently. "You sure you really wanna know?" he asked as he pulled away. She searched his face for a moment before nodding. "Well there's spankings," he said as let his hand slide down her waist to rub over her ample bottom. He shifted down to where he was laying on his side facing her, before his hand moved to stroke her inner thighs. "And there's toys." Damon moved to pull her shirt off and she let him, "and there's voyeurism of course," he slid a finger just inside her bra, touching the lacy fabric more than her breast. He unbuttoned her jeans before kissing her as he pulled them off slowly. Once they were off he rubbed his thumb down the curve of her ass and nipped gently at her lower lip, "then there's the joys of… anal." Elena jumped at hearing this and Damon wondered if he had finally crossed the line that would make her run from him. "You okay Elena?"

"Yah," she settled back into his arms again, "you just surprised me. I would never have expected _that_ from you."

He chuckled hardily at this before he began stroking the sides of her thighs gently. "There's more if you wanna hear it…" Again she nodded at him. Damon pushed her gently until he was laying on top of her and could feel her warm core through her already wet panties pressing into him. He smirked at her before he began to kiss his way along her collar bone and down her stomach. Her breath hitched and he stopped, "then of course there's blood play." He licked a line back up her flat abdomen to gently nip and suck at the side of her breast. His hands caught her wrist and pinned them to the bed above her head, "I'm rather fond of bondage too." Damon smiled, proud that she was taking all this in so well. Elena really was the perfect woman for him. He kissed her, slowly tasting her as his tongue thrust lightly in and out of her mouth, his hips held just beyond touching her. When he broke the kiss he whispered, " and then there's threesomes." With that he jumped off of her and walked across the room to pour himself a drink.

Elena lay spread on his bed where he left her, breathing excitedly, face flushed. He could smell her arousal and hear her heart thudding loudly as she sat up and looked over at him. She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "I think I could probably deal with at least most of that," she nodded. Damon laughed as he sat down his empty glass and crawled back in bed next to her. This time he was laying spooned against her, she shifted to turn off the bedside lamp and he nearly groaned at the way her ass molded against him. _Nights like this were torture_, he thought as they drifted to sleep together.


	13. Chapter 13

Night 46

Elena was sick of it, it had been nearly two weeks since she and Damon had their first official date, and she still hadn't gotten her turn. She itched to be able to touch and taste him the way he had done with her, to be able to pluck the sighs, and moans, and pleas from his lips. It was killing her at this point, if she had to spend one more evening with him eating at the grill or going to a movie like a normal couple she was going to scream. So tonight she was determined to take her turn with him.

He was picking her up at eight and they were going to be staying over at the boarding house tonight. Elena lined her eyes with charcoal liner and applied some lipstick. She checked her image in the full length mirror in her bedroom. Her black jeans made her ass look glorious, and the red t-shirt outlined her narrow waist perfectly. Underneath was a special surprise just for Damon though. Elena sighed and glanced at the clock, it was just now 7:46, so she headed downstairs to get her coat.

Damon had bought flowers, a dozen red roses to be exact. He wasn't sure why but it felt like tonight was the night. Tonight, unless something went horribly wrong, he would be making love to Elena. _Finally_, he sighed to himself. Damon rang the door bell and was nearly bowled over by how beautiful Elena looked as she opened the door. She smiled warmly when he handed her the flowers.

"Thanks Damon," she said as she slid into the car beside him. He smiled at her unsure of what to say. Damon had never been so nervous about the prospect of sleeping with a woman, not even when he was with Katherine.

As they pulled up in front of the boarding house he felt Elena begin to fidget nervously. She felt it too then. It really was time. They went inside and Damon helped Elena put her flowers in a vase for the night. He had just laid them down on the kitchen counter when he turned and noticed Elena had left the room without him. He panicked for only a moment before he picked out the sound of her footsteps going down the upstairs hall to his bedroom. Damon followed her and found that she had opened his curtains wide and placed his favorite arm chair looking out of them. The lights were dim and he could hear soft music playing.

Elena slowly kicked off her shoes and shrugged off her jacket. She motioned to the chair, "sit down." Damon sighed and closed the door before fulfilling her request. He watched as Elena walked around him, her hands trailing along the tops of his shoulders. "I seem to remember you telling me a few weeks ago that you enjoyed both voyeurism and exhibitionism." Her voice was soft but calm as she came to stand in front of him again and slowly began to dance. Elena's hips rose and fell and swirled with the tempo of the music and Damon watched on. He could hardly believe Elena was doing this for him. She moved towards him and straddled his lap, her hips swaying and grinding into his own. He was getting hard already, he had wanted her for so long.

His eyes glazed over as she slid her hands down her chest and sides until she came to the hem of her shirt and began to pull it off. Once it was gone she tossed it aside and he had the most splendid view of her breast. She hadn't worn a bra and he could see her already hardened nipples tighten even more. Damon began to massage one breast lightly, rolling it and weighing it in the palm of his hand.

Elena pulled back and unbuttoned her jeans slowly, letting his eyes trace the zipper on its way down. She stepped out of them and kicked them aside too. Now she stood before him in just her scarlet red lace panties. She smiled as she noted that he liked the color quite a bit.

Damon watched elated as she leaned down and let her moist scarlet shaded lips finally slide against his own. Her hands rubbed up and down his broad chest and Damon felt himself grow even harder. She began to unbutton his shirt and slid it off his broad shoulders as she kissed him softly.

"You've taken care of me so much over the past few months, even before we lost Stefan… tonight its my turn to take care of you." Her whispered words made his heart sing. Only Elena could do this for him, take care of him, love him like this. Once his shirt was gone she fell to her knees between his legs. Their lips were still entangled as her hands stroked his thighs, Damon moaned when he felt her began to unbutton his pants next. Elena wrapped her hand around his firm member and stroked him inside his jeans before pulling him forth.

He sat still watching her eyes roam over him, she licked her lips as she moved closer. Damon's eyes rolled back as she licked the head of his cock. Elena wrapped her hand around him before sucking the tip of him hard. He gasped and let his hips buck as she began to swirl her tongue over him. Damon's fingers slipped into her hair as she pulled hard on him, sucking more and more of him into her warm mouth. His juices were spread across his shaft as her tongue danced along the surface of his hardness.

Damon was getting dangerously close to loosing control when Elena pulled away from him. She licked the slick moisture off her lips as she turned from him. Elena bent slightly in front of him and pulled her panties down slowly. He loved the way her red undergarments caressed the curve of her ass she removed them. Elena stood naked in front of him for a moment before leaning down to kiss him again. Damon sighed against her mouth, remembering where it had just been.

He turned to watch her climb onto his bed and lay waiting for him. Damon stood and let his pants and boxers fall to the ground. Elena looked so beautiful as she lay onto of his covers. Her olive skin was flushed and glowing, her red lips were begging to be kissed, her hair was splayed over the pillows in flowing waves of chocolate, and her slightly parted thighs were moist already.

He swallowed thickly as leaned onto the bed over her. Every part about her was enticing him, Damon couldn't wait any longer to be with her. He pressed his body down onto hers and kissed her gently. Elena tugged on his hair pulling him down further into her embrace, their tongues danced. He heard her sigh as his member rubbed across her slick core. Again and again they kissed and rubbed against each other. Suddenly he began to slide into her, her eyes widened as he pressed in further and further. Damon moaned as he felt her heat surrounding his entire length. Elena's lips found his again, and they began to move together.

Over and over again their hips danced and they came together. His hands traced the length of her body as her legs wrapped around his waist, her nails were raking down his back. The delicious sting combined with the ecstasy of being inside her was driving Damon insane. He could feel her body tightening around him as he pushed harder and harder into her tight flesh. Elena arched her back as her body shuddered and climaxed around him. Damon's hands grabbed her hips in a nearly bruising force as he pumped into harder than ever. Damon came in a shuddering explosion his cum shooting deep inside her. When it was over he rested on his elbows and cradled her head in his hands. Elena smiled at him and they kissed sweetly before Damon rolled off of her and cuddled her close to him. "Mmm…" Damon murmured as her hand stroked his still hardened cock lightly.

"Best date ever," Elena smiled.

He laughed and hugged her close. "Damn straight."

She turned her head and kissed him, "I'm not done yet," she whispered as she straddled him. Damon smiled as she lined him up with her entrance, and guided her down onto him again. Elena bounced and swayed, ground and slid up and down him. She took her time experimenting with both friction and rhythm to find what they both enjoyed most. Damon watched as she rode him, the pleasure was written all overly her face. Her hair was sliding across her breast as began to ride him harder and harder. Damon couldn't take it anymore as he pulled her down to him and caught her lips in a kiss. His hands squeezed her ass as he pushed her back and forth on his shaft. Elena moaned loudly as they moved faster and faster together.

He watched her eyes as he slammed her into him again and again. Her second orgasm was coming quickly now, "that's it baby," he whispered to her. "Come with me Elena," he encouraged and was instantly rewarded with her body bucking wildly against him as they came. She collapsed in a heated, exhausted heap on his chest. Damon ran his fingers up and down her spine soothingly as they both fought to catch their breath.

"I love you Damon," she whispered as she drifted to asleep in his arms.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Short chapter but lots of smut. Enjoy my darlings. **

Anna rolled her eyes and tried to stuff her pillows in her ears as Elena and Damon went at it down the hall. Finally she gave up and raced to the Gilbert house, hoping to find rest with Jeremy. She sprang easily into his open window, he woke up partially when she sat on the edge of his bed.

"Hey," he mumbled groggily.

"Can I sleep here?" she asked softly.

Jeremy sat up part way wondering why she would want to do that. "Sure Anna," he pulled back the covers and held her close to him.

"Thank God," she mumbled as she rested next to him. "I couldn't stand listening to Damon and Elena do it any longer."

He chuckled beside her before drifting back to sleep. Anna smiled and melted into his arms and a rest of her own.

Elena awoke the next morning and stretched against Damon's lithe body. She smiled as she turned her head to see him still resting peacefully. Slowly she crawled out bed, trying to let his rest. Elena looked around the room, pleased with the nights previous lovemaking. She picked up his shirt and pulled it on, buttoning only a few buttons before heading to the bathroom.

Damon woke up just a few minutes later, he lay in bed and noticed his bathroom door was open. Elena was wearing only his shirt and brushing her teeth. He languidly watched her for a moment. He could feel little Damon perking up as he watched the shirt sway against her bare thighs, her bottom peeking out every few seconds.

Elena turned to head back into the bedroom and had barely gotten across the threshold between the two rooms when Damon was suddenly an inch away. His eyes were intensely boring into her. "Your wearing my shirt Miss Elena," he purred. She swallowed thickly, stuck between and irrational fear and utter arousal. "I'm gonna have to punish you for that," he smiled wickedly as he pressed her into the wall next to the door.

Damon kissed her roughly then, letting her feel how much he wanted her. She moaned with exasperation as he suddenly broke the kiss and took a step back. Before she could say anything though he was on his knees in front of her pushing the hem of the shirt away so he had a clear view of her womanhood. Elena stared down into Damon's eyes as he leaned forward and kissed her nether region gently. His tongue slid just inside her folds to laps at her clit before his hands moved to push her legs farther apart.

Her hips pushed forth as he slid a finger in and out of her moist center and continued licking and kissing along her folds. Elena dug her fingers into his hair and held him to her as spasms wracked her body and moans were pulled from her lips. Suddenly he reached between her legs and jerked her open even farther, before plunging his tongue into her. She nearly fell over as orgasm crashed into her and Damon persisted in his task.

Her hips bucked as Damon continued to lap at her juices, just when she was ready to go mad from his attentions he stood. Damon's hands caressed along the curve of her back side for a moment as he stared hungrily into her eyes. Suddenly he was lifting her, her legs instinctively wrapped around him, and he thrust his entire length into her in one smooth motion. Elena shuddered and gasped as pulled back only to slam into again hard enough to shake the bookshelf along the wall next to them. Again and again he pounded into her, until he gave one last hard shove from his hips and came.

Damon slowly removed himself from Elena's warmth and lowered her to the ground. He rested his forehead against hers, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

She burrowed into his arms and whispered, "definitely not."

He chuckled as he stepped away and then watched utter allured as Elena reached between her thighs and caught the juices that were dripping out of her. She brought her slickened hand to her mouth and sucked her fingers clean. Damon growled low in his throat in approval. Elena smiled at him and offered her hand to him next, she sighed happily as he suckled and nipped at each finger tip.

Damon again kissed her full lips for a moment before turning her to face the wall. He pressed her hands, palms flattened into the wall. Elena gasped as licked and nipped along her throat, his hands pulling her breast free from his shirt to massage them. She could feel his still hard length pressed against her from behind. Damon pulled her hair out of the way as he continued to kiss and suckle at her throat. His hands massaged her body in little circles until he came to her back side. She nearly groaned when he lifted and parted her thighs from behind and inserted his cock back into her.

He was slightly taller than her so he had to bend his knees and go slow as he thrust directly up and into her again and again. Elena moaned loudly as he began to roll her clit between his thumb and forefinger, his tongue was running delicious circles mimicking the movement along her throat still. Another orgasm was close at hand for her as she rolled her head to the side and begged, "Damon bite me, please…" Her breathing was coming hard and fast in elated gasps as he ran blunt teeth along her flesh before letting his fangs out and biting into her. The initial pain of the bite was quickly overpowered by the pleasurable feel of him drinking from her as his cock pulsed inside of her. She could feel a few drops of her blood running down between her breast as he drank.

Damon slid out of her and turned her to face him, catching her lips in a kiss almost immediately. Up until that point she thought she would be disgusted to taste her blood on his mouth. Instead it only floored her as her hand wrapped around his shaft firmly. Damon bit down on his lip slightly, pressing his blood from the wound into her mouth without even thinking about it. Both the wound on his lip and the wound on her neck closed within seconds.

He ripped his shirt off of her and backed up to the bed before sitting down on it. Elena straddled him and slid back onto his waiting member with a moan of appreciation. Damon licked the trickle of blood off her chest and pulled her breast in his mouth to suck on as Elena rode him. His arms wrapped tightly around her as she held him to her. They pushed further and further towards that grand explosion that we do them both in and finally they reached it. Heads thrown back they came together again and again until all they could do was hold on to one another and wait for their muscles to stop quivering.

Elena kissed Damon slowly, utterly amazed with what they had just shared.

He kissed her back solemnly before he whispered, "I can't even let you go Elena, never." Damon rested his head on his shoulder and sighed against her skin, "please don't ask me to."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Only one more chapter after this one…. So I'm moving things along a bit quicker now. **

Night 365

Elena awoke alone just before the sun began to lighten the sky outside her house. Damon was already gone but Elena knew just where to find him. After dressing for the day she headed out the old Mystic Falls Cemetery. Damon was already there, sprawled over what she assumed must be Stefan's grave, only a few feet from their father's. It was one year today since they had lost Stefan.

She could hear him talking quietly to his brother, as she approached. "Don't worry though, I really do love her and I'm going to take care of her baby brother," Damon said softly.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" she asked tentatively.

Damon smiled and motioned for her to join him on the dewy grass. "Not at all. I was just filling Stefan in on everything that happened this year."

Elena smiled and stroked the grass beneath her as she sat, "did you tell him about Alaric proposing to Aunt Jenna?" They had just had their engagement party two weeks ago, Elena was really happy for them.

"Nope, thought I'd let you tell him that yourself."

They lay on the grass side by side, watching as the sun began to peak over the trees. Both took turns talking to Stefan, saying everything they wished they'd had more time to say. They told him of how Anna had stopped going to school but was still going out with Jeremy. And how Matt had broken up with Caroline a few months ago. Then they both told him they loved him and missed and not worry about them. They took care of each other. It was peaceful for both of them though, helping them move beyond their loss even further.

It was the middle of the afternoon by the time they had run out of things to talk about. "I miss him," Elena whispered into Damon's shoulder.

He kissed her on the forehead reassuringly, "I know, I do too."

Rain began to fall on them and both nearly cursed at the irony. It had been raining the night Stefan had died too. Quickly they said their goodbyes and raced to Elena's car.

Both piled hastily into the back seat, only slightly dampened. She rung her hair out and leaned on Damon's shoulder, "we should do this every year, only hopefully not the rain part."

"For the rest of eternity," he whispered. Instantly he felt Elena stiffen in his arms, several times they had broached the subject of their future together. More so their lack of one due to her own mortality. They never exactly fought over it, and she never said no or yes either way. Instead they had spent the year debating the merits of the thing. Should Elena become a vampire she would have to leave Jeremy, who would possibly, even probably, become a vampire himself, and Aunt Jenna. If she didn't she would grow old and die, and more importantly she would be leaving Damon. Elena knew what she wanted, she'd had her answer for sometime now, but she had never told Damon. She needed more time, it was just that simple. Damon felt her relax after a few minutes and decided to let it go for now.

"We're supposed to meet Alaric's parents at the grill tonight for dinner," she reminded him softly. Damon was considered to be part of her family, as was Anna. Although Jenna thought Anna was out of town permanently so the young girl wouldn't be joining them. Elena was kind of dreading the whole affair, Jenna had never met Alaric's parents before and they were turning it into a huge family gathering.

"It'll be okay," Damon assured her. After all this time he almost always knew what she was thinking. "I'm sure their nice people, after all Alaric's not such a terrible guy."

Elena giggled, "I can't believe it! You actually just said something nice about him!"

Damon shrugged and smirked at her flirtatiously, "I can be nice."

"Only when I'm keeping you with a satisfied… mind," she flirted back. Elena leaned in to kiss him before allowing her hand to settle on his lap. Her fingers deftly rubbed against causing him to sigh softly and his cock to harden. Damon smiled against her mouth as her tongue traced the seem of his lips.

She pulled back though and glanced at her cell phone for a second before kissing him again. "What was that?" he murmured.

"Just making sure we had enough time," she smiled as leaned down over his lap and began undoing his pants. Damon smiled at her, his heart singing with joy as she drew him out of his pants and began suckling his hardened flesh. He let his head roll back against the seat and his fingers tangle in her hair as she sucked him off. Elena's tongue was painting circles along his shaft as her lips sucked him mercilessly. He could feel the slight bite of her blunt teeth as she bobbed her head up and down on him. Her throat swallowed compulsively as he leaked more and more pre-cum.

Elena pulled back just before he was about to cum, in the last several months she had perfected her technique with him and had her timing down perfectly. He watched as she leaned back and shimmied out of her jeans awkwardly before casting off her coat too. Damon was content to let her be in the driver's seat, knowing it was what she wanted right now. Elena quickly straddled his lap, and jerking her panties to the side she sank down onto him in one smooth motion. He grunted as she began to slowly ride him, the friction of the cloth between her legs rubbing him combined with that of her inner walls was heaven.

She grew wetter and wetter as she slid even quicker along him. Damon kept his head back on the seat and watched her move, his fingers splayed against her hips to keep her steady. Elena reached between them to pluck and pinch at her clit, Damon moaned loudly as her body began to contract around him. Finally he allowed himself to go over the edge with her, as she screamed her orgasm out.

When it was over Elena sat calmly in his arms, catching her breath for a minute as Damon stroked his fingers lightly up and down her spine. Eventually they fixed their clothes and crawled to the front seat. They had to go get ready for dinner tonight.

After dinner they lay in bed together, watching TV, it was shark week. Elena seemed to be contemplating something though, had been all night actually. "Is it strange?… I mean is it strange that instead of feeling like I'm mourning a year lost with Stefan today, I feel like… like I'm celebrating a year spent with you?" His answer was 'no' but neither of them felt the need to say it. They both felt it in their hearts.

Night 426

Damon sat proudly next to Jenna as they watched Elena shake hands with her principal, receiving her high school diploma. She beamed at them, happy to see her family sitting together in the crowd. Once Elena left the stage to sit with the other graduates for the rest of the ceremony Damon let his mind wonder. He looked towards Bonnie, he had a task for her and one way or another he would get her to complete it.

The next day he knocked on the witch's door, he and Bonnie had long since made a semblance of peace for Elena's sake, but they still didn't like each other.

"Damon," Bonnie seemed somewhat shocked to see him standing there, alone. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong with Elena?"

"No, no. Elena's fine. Snoring like a wildebeest but fine." He paused not sure how to make his request, finally he relented to just be straight forward. "Actually I came to ask you a favor Bonnie."

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. "The favor being?"

"I need you to make me another ring. In a size seven." He let his words sink in and watched as first confusion then anger danced across the witch's delicate features. Finally her face settled into grudging acceptance.

"It'll take me a little while and you have to provide all the materials. Lapis lazuli is pretty expensive you know." Bonnie's lips were pursed at him as she continued, "I'll text you with the list of everything I'll need later okay."

Damon nodded his thanks for a moment before turning back to her. "Why are you willing to do this?"

"It was only a matter of time," she sighed.

Night 657

Damon sat pleasantly in the church watching as Elena handed her aunt the ring. She had taken a year off from college to just enjoy life and be home for her aunt's wedding. And today was the day Jenna was tying the knot with Alaric. All Damon could see though was how beautiful Elena was as she stood at the front of the church. He smiled whole heartedly at her, and she smiled back before turning back to watch Jenna kiss her husband.

Bonnie sat next to him and watched their interaction. She leaned in close to him and whispered the words he had been anxiously waiting for over the last few months. "The rings ready."

Damon's smiled glowed all the more. _Next week_, he thought, _next week_.

Night 664

It was Elena's eighteenth birthday tomorrow. That was why Damon had waited the week to do this. He spent the day away from her, tonight they were going to spend together and then tomorrow her family and friends were throwing her a party. Damon texted her just after sunset that night, 'meet me at the falls.'

Elena rushed out to meet him, she hadn't seen him all day and was getting worried. When she arrived she found that the bridge was lit up with dozens of tea light candles, the ground strewn with red rose petals. Damon was no where in sight, Elena looked around nervously and started down the bridge. When she reached the middle the rose petals stopped and on the railing she saw a box. It was small, small enough for a ring and heart began to hammer. Slowly she looked around but Damon still was no where near by. Her hand reached out and wrapped the velveteen box, she inhaled sharply and opened it. It was emptied, Elena felt her heart drop.

She turned disappointed and was going to head back of the bridge but she came nose to nose with Damon. Elena gasped and jumped just as she had the first day they met. His eyes bored into hers as he lifted her hand and kissed it gently, "Miss Elena," he whispered. Her heart thudded sharply as he knelt in front of her and pulled a small golden ring from his pocket. Elena felt the tears begin to brim in her eyes as he slowly slipped the lapis lazuli ring onto her finger. "Will you do the me the honor of being my wife, forever?"

A single word, the answer she had feared to utter fell from her lips on a sigh. "Yes."


	16. Chapter 16

Night 1000

Elena couldn't sleep, she was staying at home with Aunt Jenna tonight. Tomorrow she was going to marry Damon Salvatore and tomorrow night she was going to die. She and Damon had told everyone they wouldn't be coming back from their honeymoon right away because he had gotten a job in Atlanta. Jeremy was going to be looking after the boarding house for them. After the wedding and reception she and Damon would be heading out for Richmond. He didn't want her anywhere near Mystic Falls before she had learned to control her thirst.

She sighed and rolled over on the bed anxiously. Damon had insisted that they spend the night apart, as was traditional. Neither had any interest in bachelor or bachelorette parties though. No, Elena couldn't sleep because Damon wasn't beside her. It was the first time in over two and half years that she hadn't had his arms wrapped around her in sleep. With a groan she got up and got dressed. If she couldn't see Damon then at least she could talk to the other Salvatore brother.

Damon had been doing much the same thing across town. He had spent the last four hours watching one crappy MTV show after another with Anna_. One more episode of the real world and I'm gonna kill the shows creator_, he thought. He was anxious, he could admit that. Tomorrow morning he would be doing the one thing he never thought he'd be able to do. He would marry Elena Gilbert and spend not just a lifetime but an eternity loving her.

Damon got up to pour himself a glass of scotch and Anna noticed his agitation, "why don't you go for a walk, clear your head." He knocked back his drink and decided that perhaps talking to his baby brother would help. He set out for Stefan's grave.

Both perked up their heads as they came closer to Stefan's grave, they could hear each other moving through the forest and undergrowth. When they saw each other they both laughed and Elena rushed into Damon's arms.

"You couldn't sleep either?" he whispered as he held her close.

Elena shook her head, "its your fault. You're the idiot that suggested we try to spend a night apart."

Her finger poked his middle gently until he grabbed her hand and led her to the ground to lay with him. "I know, I'm a complete imbecile," he whispered to her in the dark.

Elena followed him to the ground and kissed him softly, her fingers trailed over his hardened abs as their lips danced softly. "I want you," she whispered.

Damon held her hands in his and slowly kissed each of her fingertips. "I know, I can't wait for you to be my wife Elena. I think if my heart were beating it would be going a mile a minute."

She brushed a lock of hair from his face and kissed him, gently sucking on his lower lip. "Mine already is."

He rolled them until he was on top of her on the cool ground, Damon unzipped her coat and pushed it to the side. His finger tips traced the curve of her left breast before he rested his head flush against her. "I can hear it," his hot breath caressed her through her shirt.

Elena stroked her fingers through his hair and allowed him to stay like, enjoying her warmth and the beating of her heart. It was last chance to soak up either. Finally Damon turned and began laying slow gentle kiss against her chest. His hand slid up and down her side until at last he came to the tops of her jeans.

His blue eyes met her own as he unzipped her pants and pulled them down. Elena shivered from the cold night air and he traced a line up the side of her thigh. Damon pushed her jacket off her shoulders so she was laying on it. Goosebumps jetted across her flesh as Damon slid his tongue along the neckline of her shirt. Cool fingers pushed it up her body and pulled it off, tossing the offending clothing a few feet away. Elena watched as he kissed along the slopes of her breast until he got to the front hook of her bra.

Damon smiled at her before taking the clasp in his mouth and popping it open. His fingertips lightly brushed the straps of her bra away and she lay in just her underwear beneath him. He licked her just between her twin mounds and then proceeded to pinch her right nipple as he licked his way down her body.

Damon settled himself between her thighs, his head resting on her leg as he breathed in the smell of her arousal. Elena watched him through hooded eyes, breathing slowly. Tonight was definitely a night for slowness. When Damon had his fill of just laying there he began to massage her clit through her already wet panties. Elena sighed and arched her back. Damon rolled until he was sitting on his knees in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes before grabbing her panties and jerking them sharply to one side. The movement made her whole body shake and her inner walls clench. She watched as he slid his thumb against her lips and began to pinch and jerk on her clit.

He stared at what he was doing, focusing on this one task. With her panties knotted in one hand he used his other to gently separate her folds, caressing them before dipping the tip of his finger inside her. Elena's breathing and heartbeat accelerated more and more. Damon looked back up at her to find her eyes closed peacefully as she tried to sit still. His thumb slid around her entrance, sliding through the moisture leaking out of her before spreading it upwards towards her clit. A moan escaped his lover and he pulled back to take her panties off.

He paused to remove his own clothing. Elena watched him as he sat naked in front of her and waited patiently for him to return to her. The moonlight gleamed off every ripple of muscle in on his body, all the way down to his hard and leaking cock. Her throat felt dry as a familiar wave of possessiveness washed through her. _Mine; that_, she thought looking at him, _is mine_.

Damon smiled at her, she was beautiful laying on the forest floor in the moonlight. The light danced over her supple breast, down her taught stomach and glittered off her wet center. Her face was mostly hidden in shadow, but not her eyes. Her eyes sparkled with love and trust and belonging. Damon leaned down to her and began kissing, biting, licking his way up her inner thigh. When he came to the apex of her thighs he gave her a long wet lick, tasting every inch of her pussy.

Elena moaned and shuddered for him but he wasn't done yet. His tongue began to flick over her entrance again and again getting her wetter and wetter. He painted little swirls around her before moving forward to bite gently at her swollen clit. She arched off the ground and screamed, dangerously close to orgasm. "Damon please!" she cried out.

Damon finally relented to stop most of his torture and slid all the way up her body. He pressed into her as he did and watched her squirm from the intense pleasure she was experiences at his hands. Finally Damon rested poised at her entrance and kissed her softly before sliding into her slow and deep. Elena gasped against his mouth as he slowly stroked her insides thrusting almost totally out of her before surging back in. She could feel his already tightening balls brushing against her with every movement he made.

Damon kept going at a slow and steady pace, trying to make this last for them. He could barely stand as Elena began pushing upwards against him. His forehead rested against her own as he continued to move in and out of her. "Bite me Elena," he whispered.

She looked at him questioningly but did as he asked when he nodded. Her soft lips found the base of his throat and her warm breath teased him as he pumped into her quicker now. Elena felt ready to explode as she ran her tongue over his cool flesh before nipping at him.

"Jesus," he moaned against her. "Bite me Elena, now." Elena could feel him begin to loose control and nipped him again spurring him on further before biting down hard. It took her a moment to bite him hard enough, but as he pounded into her hard and fast now she bit even harder into she felt his blood shoot into her mouth. Elena gulped down the sweet coppery liquid as he ejaculated inside her. Her walls began to convulse around him and she swallowed even more of him as they rode out their orgasm together.

Damon licked the blood off her mouth a few minutes later, light headed but completely sated. "I love you," he whispered as he kissed her tenderly. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close until the sky began to lighten with the coming dawn. Slowly they rose from the cemetery floor together and got dressed.

"I'll see you in a few hours," Elena told him as she got into her car and drove away. Damon headed home to feed and shower. He was getting married in a few hours and it brought a smile to his heart.

Night 1001

At nine that morning Elena was in her dressing room with Bonnie and her now pregnant Aunt Jenna as they helped her slide on her wedding dress. She already wore the golden and lapis lazuli ring Bonnie had made for her. Today she and Damon were exchanging formal wedding bands too though. The one she had picked for his was a single white gold band with 'my savior' carved into the inside. It was simple but Elena knew it was just perfect.

Once her dress was on she turned to the mirror and smiled. She couldn't believe she had let Damon pay for the rest of the wedding. All she had paid for was his ring and her dress, and it had cost her all her life's savings. But looking at herself now, she knew it was worth every cent. Elena took a deep breath and asked Jenna to check on Damon and Jeremy and to please send Alaric in. In half an hour her now uncle would be walking her down the isle. Bonnie hugged her and headed out to make sure everyone was settled in their seats for their ceremony.

Across the church Damon was pacing in the groom's suite, waiting for the moment he could join the preacher at the front of the church. Jeremy sat relaxed in the corner and Damon questioned why he had asked the younger man to be his best man. He crossed the room again in a huff as Jenna popped her head in the door.

"Hey handsome," she greeted with a smile.

Damon like Jenna, she was easy to get along with and cared about her young wards wholeheartedly.

Jeremy smiled at his aunt and got up, "I think that's my cue to go stand around at the front of the church."

Jenna closed the door after her nephew and walked up to hug Damon. He hugged the pretty red head back gently and nearly jumped when he felt the baby in her womb kick at him. She laughed and pulled back, "sorry Damon, I'm sure he'll like you once he's out."

Damon laughed softly and wondered how old the child would be before he and Elena could return and meet him. Jenna misread the look on his face, "don't worry Damon, you're going to make a wonderful husband. I'm sure of it, and if," she paused and braced herself. "If I wasn't I would have kicked your ass a long time ago."

Damon smiled at her, "I know and thank you Jenna." He kissed her on the cheek and held her hands in a gentle grip, "I'm just so ready to be married to Elena. I wish the time would fly faster," his brow furrowed.

Jenna smiled and shrugged, "another five minutes and I think you can go out there." With that she made sure his tie was straight and left him to sit and wait.

The time didn't go fast enough for either of them. Damon stood waiting for the music to begin for what felt like an eternity. Finally it did and then he saw Elena moving down the isle towards him on Alaric's arm. _My wife_, was his only thought. _This is my wife_. Elena's hair was pulled up an back with soft curls twining down her back behind a gossamer veil. Her dress was a stunning white that fitted her form perfectly. The crystals that traced her corseted top gleamed, the rouging of the fabric below shimmered, and the feather light lace of the mermaid bottom flowed around her feet. Damon swallowed hard to keep from drooling, she was stunning as moved closer and closer to him.

Elena smiled brightly as Alaric handed her off to him and joined her aunt on the front pew. Damon felt his heart lighten as they stared at each other, neither heard much of what the preacher said and repeated the words he recited to them in a daze. Finally Jeremy handed Damon the ring and he slid it onto her finger next to the one he had already given her. She slid her own ring onto his hand and he couldn't look away from it for a moment. They kissed and the whole church cheered for them.

Everyone ate lunch together and danced and laughed at the reception. Damon watched his wife dance with her brother and smiled. Bonnie surprised him when she walked up, rolled her shoulders back and then asked him to dance. When the reception was over he and Elena climbed into his car and headed out for their honeymoon suite in Richmond.

Elena held his hand the whole way there as he drove. After quickly checking in he picked her up and held her in his arms the entire way up to their room in the elevator and then into their rooms. Damon sat Elena down and let her take in the room as their bags were laid settled into the bedroom. Elena swirled around her dress and laughed. Then she turned to Damon, "so what now Mr. Salvatore?"

Damon walked forward, and grasped her hips through her dress, "now I want you to go take a nice long bubble bath Mrs. Salvatore."

Elena nodded once and headed off to do just that. As she sank into the water she wondered what she should wear for the evening. Finally she settled on a loose white nightgown and braided her hair in one long loose braid. When she came out of the bathroom she found that Damon was sitting in a chair across the bedroom waiting for her. A tumbler of scotch hung loosely in his hand and the table next to him held a cooling bottle of champagne and two glasses. Elena smiled at him and he motioned for her to come to him.

Damon watched as she crossed the room to stand in front of him thinking she looked just as she would have if he had married her during his own time as a human man. He finished his scotch and pulled her into his lap. She rested her hands on his shoulders and they just sat looking at each other for awhile. Damon couldn't resist rubbing a thumb over her lower lip and her tongue darted out to taste him. He sighed contentedly, "Elena I love you more than you will ever know. And I'm going to take care of you and protect you, forever," he promised.

Her lips brushed his own gently, "I know." Then she kissed him, pushing her tongue flat against his mouth seeking entrance. He opened up to her and their tongues slid across each other's again and again gently. Damon rubbed her silky skin back and forth from shoulder to thigh as their lips met again and again. Elena's own hands were rubbing his chest through his shirt, nails biting slightly through the fabric. She sighed and broke their kiss and his hand slipped beneath her nightgown to swirl fingertips over the creamy flesh of her inner thigh. He looked her in the eyes as his hand inched further and further up. When he reached her hot folds he wasted no time in thrusting two fingers deep inside her. Her whole body jerked from the sensation as he did again and again, watching her face the entire time.

Elena pulled his arm away and he reluctantly stopped fucking her with his now sticky fingers. She sucked them clean and then climbed off his lap to rest on her knees in front of him. "It's my turn Damon," and with that Elena pulled his suspenders down. Her eyes locked with his as she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it from his shoulders. Elena rose up to kiss him before wrestling his undershirt out for his pants and pulling that off. She cast it aside and moved to his pants. Once undone she jerked them down and he raised up enough that she could remove them completely.

Damon looked down at her as she stared at his now naked flesh, thinking she looked like the most erotic virgin in the world right now. Her eyes were big and wide as she stroked her hand down his shaft and he groaned at the touch. Elena leaned forward and pressed a single gentle kiss to the head of his cock. "I love you Damon Salvatore," her voice was strong yet sure. She place another kiss down the side of his cock and the heat from her breath made him jerk in her hand, "my lover," she whispered. Another kiss was placed as the base of him, "my friend." Her darted out to taste the other side of him as she kissed him again, "my savior. My husband." At the last she pulled the head of him into her mouth and began to suck him down inch by inch.

He couldn't take it anymore as he wrapped his hands in her hair and forced her to deep throat him. Elena just sucked him even harder from it, completely trusting in him enough that her throat relaxed to take the breadth of his cock in. He groaned as she sucked him down and fucked him with her mouth. Damon growled at her before pulling her off of him and kissing her with a bruising force. He jerked Elena up off the ground and into his arms before depositing her over the edge of the bed. She laid looking back at him as he stroked her ass once, twice before pushing her nightgown out of the way and thrusting into her wet pussy in one long hard stroke. Elena moaned loudly and gripped the bed covers as he held her down and plowed into her again and again. Elena gasped as he jerked her hips up and snaked his hand between her legs. His fingers pinched and swirled erratically against her clit and she screamed in orgasm as he fucked her. She felt Damon hold her hips in a bruising grip and force his cock into her from behind, one, two, three more times as he came before he collapsed on top of her.

Damon pushed the sweat dampened hair out of her face and slowly pulled out of her now aching flesh. He gently pulled off her nightgown the rest of the way and licked the sweat from her spine, enjoying her salty sweet taste. "You okay Elena?" he whispered and she nodded silently against the bed. Damon lifted her and laid her on her back across the pillows. Elena smiled at him as he pulled undid her braid and fanned her head out around her.

"I think its my turn with you now," he told her and went to pour a glass of the champagne. She watched mesmerized as he crawled up the bed to her and sat between her creamy thighs. Elena reached to take the champagne glass from him but he pulled it back refusing to give it to her. Damon smiled as she settled back down into the pillows and began to spread her inner folds wide. He dribbled a few drops of the cool bubbling liquid against her heated core and she gasped. Damon pushed his thumb against her clit as he leaned down to lap at the sticky sweet concoction. Elena's hips rolled up towards him as he gently licked her again and again.

She began thrashing and was getting desperate to have him when he finally stopped. Damon moved forward and cradled her head with one hand while gently putting the glass to her lips with the other. She stared him in the eyes with fervor as she downed the offered drink. Damon laid the glass on the nightstand next to them and kissed her before pulling away again. Elena watched as his fangs grew, and his eyes darkened. He bit the tip of his finger and rubbed the sprouting blood there across her lips before allowing her to suck the wound into her mouth.

Damon made her suck his finger for a few long moments, wanting to be sure she would have enough blood in her to turn. Finally when he was sure he pressed her back down into the bed and kissed her lovingly. Damon's hands slid up the back side of her right leg to lift it above his shoulder and brace it there as he surged forward into her waiting body. Elena gasped and moaned as he fucked her into the mattress. Her left leg twined itself around his hips as he continued to rock in and out of her. Her nails bit into his flesh hungrily as she screamed past the first orgasm.

He wasn't done yet as he sat up on his knees, lowering her own leg to the ground and pulled her into his arms. Elena settled herself back onto his waiting member and ground into him hungrily. Damon's arms tightened around her and held her close as he pushed upward and into her. Over and over again they moved until Elena was begging for him to cum with her. Damon fell back onto the bed and allowed Elena to ride out her pleasure on him once more, loving the way her walls tightened around him.

When she came down from the high of her second orgasm she looked at him strangely before laughing as he flipped her back onto her back and pounded her hard and fast. Damon came inside her with a shout to the heavens and kissed her softly afterwards.

She smiled up at him curiously as she traced his features with soft touches. The world was getting foggy from all the delicious orgasms she'd had but one important fact hadn't escaped her. "I thought you were going to kill me," she whispered.

Damon looked like he was ready to cry as he told her, "I did. The champagne was poisoned."

Elena pulled him down next to her and rested her head against his shoulder. "Oh," she looked up at him with big brown eyes. "You'll be here when I wake up?"

"Yes mam," Damon kissed her forehead and stroked a hand up and down her spine.

"Hold my hand."

**A/N: Ta da. The End. Let me know what you think. :D **

**Also a huge thanks to all my readers and especially my reviewers, you guys showed me some mad love for this story and I really appreciate it. **

**On a side note I'm going to be writing another Damon/Elena fic here shortly and I posted a poll on my profile to give my readers a chance to tell me what naughty delicious fun they want Damon and Elena to be having next. And if there's something that's not available on my poll that you wanna see just let me know and I will be more than happy to work it in. **


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